


I'm a Manager (wheee!)

by Moosegirll



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate universe - ice rink, Fluff, M/M, Slow Burn, brief angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:40:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5700391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moosegirll/pseuds/Moosegirll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An ice rink au featuring skate guard hamilsquad, front desk Aaron Burr, general (manager) George Washington, security manager Alexander Hamilton, and new guy John Laurens. </p><p>aka there's a lot of sad fics out there and i think there needs to be some less angsty ones</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically I work at an ice rink as a skate guard and the things that go on there are never ending and endlessly entertaining.  
> Now loosely based off my experiences, a simple au that I've actually had a lot of fun writing so far  
> I hope you guys enjoy <3

Alexander glared at the computer sitting in front of him like it had insulted him personally. The button to clock in seeming to taunt him as he listened to the staff at the front desk drone on and on about some group that was supposed to be coming in the next night. Groups, Alex had decided a long time back- when he had only been working as a skate guard at his ice rink for a couple months- were the literal worst. They all flooded in at once, all needed the same damn ice skate size, and all bitched about it when the staff couldn't hand out their skates “fast enough.” 

“Alex? Alex are you even listening to me? I swear you never pay attention, whether its because you're talking to much or just ignoring anything you don't want to hear.” Alex turned from the computer to look at the other man. Aaron Burr had worked at the ice rink for the same amount of time as Alex had, but Alex had done a far better job of impressing the general manager of the rink. So, while Aaron was still a simple front desk employee, stuck with miserable hours filled with ringing up transactions and answering phone calls, Alex had ascended to head of skate guard staff and the official title of Security Manager.

When it comes to him, Alex prefers to look at the bigger picture as he always has, but for this one instance, it was the smaller victories that pissed off Aaron, so he decided he could let those count.

“Of course I’m listening, don't you know how much I just love hearing you go on and on and on and on…” Alex let himself trail off, pleased with the pissed off look his coworker gave him before he turned to finish clocking in.

“Well then I’m sure you heard about the new employee we’re getting. One of yours,” Aaron finished the statement with a face of absolute loathing. Of course Alex had heard of the new guy. He was starting in the noon session the next day, and then he’d have to work the night one, which apparently now has a group on it. Which, of course, was just great- the new kid was going to get torn apart on his first day. 

As much as he wanted to snap at Aaron for his attitude about the skate guarding staff, something he has been sure to rip him apart for on multiple occasions in the past, he was stopped by Aaron glancing across the rink’s lobby and letting out in a voice that only Alex could hear, “Oh great, here comes the general.”

Alex turned around and smiled politely as the ice rink’s general manager made his way over to the two bickering employees at the front desk. Alex could remember the first time he met general manager George Washington. It was his third day at the job, and he had just finished practically yelling at a pair of customers for breaking the rules- in his own defense, the pair of teenage boys, a bit older than Alex himself had broken the same rule four times deliberately and right in from of him- and George had expressed some masked approval and asked for Alex’s name. It may have been about five years ago now, but Alex remembered the moment like it had only just passed. For him, it was the start of his climb up the hierarchy of the rink staff.

“Boys, good to see you're behaving yourselves so far tonight.” Alex and Aaron glanced to each other, irritation evident on their expressions still from their previous conversation. “I just needed to make sure Alex had everything under control before I leave for the night.” Alex smiled smugly as Aaron mumbled something under his breath so that George couldn't hear. 

“Of course, sir. Everything’s under control, as usual.”

The answer seemed to please George, as he simply nodded in response, said a quick farewell to a smug Alex and a scowling Aaron, and made his way from the building.

“Man, being in charge here is the absolute greatest,” Hamilton started, turning full attention to Aaron.

“You’re not in charge,” Aaron muttered.

“Really?” Alex challenged.

“Really,” Aaron returned with equal vigor.

“Because I’m pretty sure that if someone is asked to have ‘everything under control’ that just might put them in charge.” 

“Oh just go tie some skate laces or mop the floor already.”

Alex opened his mouth to let out a sharp retort, but was pushed aside by another employee trying to clock in.

“Alexander, have we not discussed how many fights you start?” He asked with a thick French accent.

“I did not start the fight!” Alex squealed indignantly.

“Yeah and I come here for the pure enjoyment, the intense feeling of fulfillment I get when I help a screaming kid stand up because he lost his balance,” another employee from next to the Frenchman finished.

Alex let out an agonized groan. “Lafayette! Hercules! I thought you guys were on my side! And now you have outright betrayed me!” he exclaimed, slamming his own hand over his chest and falling back dramatically.

When the pair started laughing, he couldn't help that feeling that even through everything each them had been through individually, they had somehow been brought together by either luck or fate, and became brothers. There was no other place Alex truly felt this at home. 

Scoffing at the trios immaturity, Aaron shooed them away from the front desk so he could assist customers. Leading the way to the skate rental, Alex couldn't help a genuine smile from reaching his face, something that had seemed so rare for him until he had finally found a home and a family of his own at this strange place. A place that seemed to be a magnet for any and all who couldn't find their own place to fit in elsewhere, somewhere that the past is left behind and the future is put on hold. Instead being a place where the present stands, tall and proud.

Making his way over the counter, he gave a quick greeting to Angelica, who was already working at handing out rental skates to customers. She had been working there for since the summer, such a short time relative to Alex himself, who started when he first reached the States when he was 16. But now, starting December, he couldn't help feeling proud over how far she had come from when she first started working for him. Hell, the 17 year old hadn’t even skated once in her life when she started there. Unlike Lafayette and Hercules, she had joined the staff after Alex being promoted to management level, so to her, he was a responsible manager through and through. And while Alex did take his job seriously all of the time, that didn't stop his other pair of friends from refusing to take him seriously half the time.

Lafayette and Hercules had been working at the rink for closer to three years. First, Lafayette had come seeking a job. Fresh from France, his english was still more than a little rough. So when he learned that one of his coworkers, an impulsive 18 year old, was fluent in french and english, he decided that the ice rink was the place for him. Less than a month later, Hercules had come to the rink, and when he was able to immediately get along with Alex and Lafayette, George took notice, and it hadn't taken much effort for his favorite employee to convince him that Hercules was a good person for the rink to hire.

When Alex had first told them about his promotion, they elected to not believe him for a solid two weeks, until they had gotten to the rink early enough one day to get to hear Aaron complaining endlessly about him. Even now, two years since the promotion, they still preferred to tease him about being the security manager rather than actually accept him as that.

Breaking from his thoughts, Alex sat on the counter, back to the lobby as he faced the night’s staff. Lafayette turned from his conversation with Hercules, who cocked an eyebrow at Alex curiously. Angelica taking break from organizing the skates to look at him questioningly. They all knew by now that Alex was always up to something, always had something to do, somewhere to be, something to say.

So, when he simply cleared his throat and announced, “Alright lets have good skate tonight and hope there aren't any accident reports that get filled out,” the group couldn't help amusement at his most recent antic before he left off the other counter and wandered around the rink, checking on things and completing tasks that would have seemed pointless to just about anyone else, but that Alex knew were necessary in order for the rink to be able to function properly.

\- - - - -

By the time the public skate session had started, a good deal of the rental skates had been handed out to customers who waited impatiently by the door to the ice. Alex had told Angelica to take rental duty and keep handing skates out while the trio set up the cones on the ice, turned the spot lights and disco lights on, and started the public session music. 

When everything was set up, the group looked up to the scoreboard clock on the other side of the ice. It read a bright red 7:59 and the group looked to each other, as if asking one another if they were ready to start the session for the night.

Even with how much Lafayette and Hercules teased Alex about his management position, when it was actually time to work, Alex was always the leader. He’d tell them what he wanted for them to do on the sessions, and they'd do exactly that with no hesitation and no questions asked, and if something every happened that they wouldn't know how to handle, Alex was always the first one they went to- ready for his natural leadership to guide them through it.

\- - - - -

When the session had reached an end, and the skate guard staff - which Angelica had been trying to make a name for, but every one she thought of got shot down by Alex himself - had finished the final clean-up before closing, everyone clocked out and headed their separate ways. 

When Alex reached his small, run down apartment that was only solid fifteen minute walk from the skating rink, he wasted no time in making his way to his laptop, an old gift from none other than George himself. Spreading his notebooks, journals, and countless pens around him, Alex began typing and writing furiously, all attention and energy focused on the countless pages of his self directed study of his nation’s economic state as he poured over his work, all other thoughts and actions and escaping him.


	2. Chapter 2

When the light began to filter in through the windows was when Alex finally spared a glance from his typing and writing. Sighing, he considered leaving his position at his desk before deciding against it. He had more important things he had to do, and this was one. If he was going to be able to get anywhere in the states, this was the key. Dedicating himself to working towards his goals non-stop.

He was so wrapped up in the study, he didn't notice his phone was ringing until it went of for the fourth time. Reaching to pick it up, he checked the caller id before answering.

“Yeah, Laf?” his voice was croaked out and he swore at himself under his breath for the reckless slip up. Any hopes that his closest friend he had made in the states didn't notice it were squashed when Lafayette hesitated before asking, clearly deciding the path he would take the conversation down. 

“When did you get to sleep last night?”

Alex’s silence answered for him as he braced himself irritably for the lecture ahead.

“Alex, we’ve gone over this. You can’t spend the entire night writing like that,” Alex rolled his eyes as he put his fingers back on his computer keys. “You have to at least eat something before work today okay?” there was brief pause on the other side of the line as the Frenchman listened closely to Alex's end, realization dawning on him, “Are you typing right now? Alex! Put away the laptop and get a nap or at least some breakfast!” 

He knew his friend only meant well for him, but Alex didn't need to be babied like this. What he needed was to keep writing.

“Are you working today, Laf?”

“Don’t change the topic like that, Alexander.” Alex let out an irritated groan, that was really edging closer to a growl. At that reaction, he heard a resigned sigh from the other side of the line. “No, I’m not. I have the rest of the weekend off- Friday’s shift was my only one.”

“Alright, I have to go now. See you later, Laf.”

“Get something to eat, Alex.”

Alex hung up before begrudgingly getting up from his desk, stretching his back and letting out a yawn. Shoving his phone and wallet into his pocket, Alex made his way to his kitchenette tiredly, dumping the last of his coffee from last night and starting a fresh brew. Shuffling through his assortment of food that he would claim was nutritional to his friends when ever they showed any concern about it, he grabbed a bag of fruit snacks.

Red staff hoodie thrown over his plain t-shirt, old jeans and worn combat boots finishing the outfit he chose practically every day, he walked through the chilly winter morning to the rink, coffee warming him on his way.

Arriving at the rink, he walked in through the automatic sliding glass doors, giving a curt nod to that morning’s front desk employee. Eliza returned the notion with a warm smile and a “good morning” while Alex clocked in. Returning the “good morning” wish, he turned away from the desk and headed to the second floor of the rink.

The rink itself was actually quite impressive for an ice rink. With a snack bar, two sheets of ice, and a hall between them filled with locker rooms on the first floor. Then a second floor with a small fitness center and several offices, completed by an open floor with a view of the lobby below. Making his way across the open space and into the offices, Alex made his way to the office in the far corner. He still had a good two hours before he actually had to be there for his first shift of the day, but he had decided long ago that there was never a bad time to look over the rink’s finances, something George had entrusted him with ever since he demonstrated his interests and talents with the subject. Besides, the rest of the skate guard staff wouldn’t even be arriving for their shifts until half past noon. 

\- - - - -

Making his way from the second floor, Alex headed to the closed up and darkened skate rental, opting to use the room’s proper door to enter, rather than sliding across the counter as he usually did. Turning on the lights, Alex started to organize the skates, his endless energy being as relentless as always, he waited for the last of the time to pass so the rest of the skate guards would get there.

Angelica was the first to arrive, and she took straight to waiting for customers and helping a few stray visitors who had questions. Alex couldn't help feeling thankful she was part of his staff. Everyday, she arrived early to her shift and helped customers out, lightening the mood and the workload for everyone else with a bright smile and some kind words.

He was beginning to grow even more antsy as he finished organizing the skates, when he was distracted by the doors of the rink opening. Alex felt the breath catch as he gazed at the man who walked in. He had fairly dark locks, and was definitely more on the tall side than Alex himself. He carried himself with a peculiar type of confidence, one that intrigued Alex as he watched the man curiously. 

Only after making those observations did Alex notice the man’s shirt as he walked nervously to the front desk, a red sweater sporting the word “STAFF” in bold white letters across the back. Shaking himself from his peculiar trance, Alex slid over the counter to make his way to the man, who he could only assume at this point was the new employee he had heard about.

Reaching the front desk, he found himself disappointed that the new staff member had already greeted Eliza, the disappointment was replaced by surprise and confusion as to why he felt that way at all- the new guy was just introducing himself to his coworkers.

“I take it you’re the new skate guard?” Alex asked evenly, despite his most recent observation of the freckles spread lightly across the new employee’s face, a constellation right before him that he could get lost in effortlessly if he let himself. 

Recognition passed over the his face, and the brunet gave a small smile before letting out a nervous, “Um yeah- I mean yes. My name is John,” he seemed like he was done speaking for a moment, and Alex prepared how he was going to show John the rink works, but he was interrupted by a sudden blurt of, “Laurens. John Laurens.”

His eyes never left Alex’s own, and Alex couldn't help himself but smirk at John’s apparent nervousness. “Alexander Hamilton, I’m in charge of the skate guards and security here.”

John somehow got even more nervous at that, and Alex couldn't help but wonder why. Instead of focusing more on this reaction, he opted to have fun with it.

“If you don't mind then, Laurens, I’ll be showing you around the rink and then show you how to handle skate rental.”

John gave a swift nod and with that, Alex turned around and lead him through the rink, talking one hundred miles per hour with no sign of stopping. John tried to listen to every word and Alex couldn't help finding that observation more than a little endearing.

Finally, the pair made their way back to the skate rental, where Alex slid easily over the counter, followed by a John who tried his best not to fumble over it in front of his new manager. Angelica came from behind a rack of skates, where Alex suspected she was probably hiding away on her phone, and greeted them.

“Angelica, this is the new skate guard, John.”

Smiling, she was glad to take up the conversation. “It’s nice to get to meet you, John. I’m Angelica, I’ve only been here since summer, so thanks for joining us! Now I’m not the newest one here anymore,” John laughed at this, and for some reason Alex relaxed when he did. Well, then again, with Alex “relaxed" is a strong word.

If Angelica noticed the slight change in Alex's posture and expression, she didn't show it. Instead, she continued the small talk until customers started filing in. Breaking off from conversation, she started to help them, leaving Alex and and John to their own devices. He decided to explain the new job to John. It was simple: hand out skates, help people who fell, get Alex if anyone caused any trouble (John's puzzled reaction of "You’re like five feet tall, though?” was answered by a challenging glare), put away skates, clean the lobby and locker rooms.

Alex wished him luck before wandering off, leaving a confused John in the skate rental as he went off. 

“Where did he-?” John trailed off as he showed his confusion to Angelica who gave a small laugh.

“Alex is a small guy with the energy of ten tall guys squished into him.”

John gave a small smile at the thought of Alex wandering around the rink completing any task his wandering mind led him into doing. Given how scattered he was during John’s initial tour, it was definitely something he could see the small red head doing.

\- - - - -

When the public skate session ended and the crew had finished their clean up of the lobby, Alex decided they could waive off the locker rooms until that night, after their second shift. So when he finished clocking out, he couldn't help having his attention pulled to a bored looking John who sat at a bench in the lobby dejectedly.

Alex felt a pang of familiarity at John's lost expression and made his way to him, not wanting to leave the man alone in he rink during a three hour long shift break.

“John, do you have any plans for during the break, or are you free?” John looked up at Alexander, and the manager noted the light blush that accompanied his freckles fairly well. 

John shook his head as response, not wanting to trust his words at the moment. However, that was all Alex needed apparently, because he immediately shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, gesturing with a nod to the door behind him for John to get up and follow him.

“I have a few errands to run and some dinner to get,” when John still seemed hesitant he rolled his eyes over-dramatically, “Come on, Laurens. I haven't eaten much today,” technically not a lie, “you have nothing to do for the next three hours,” probably true, “and we need to build a healthy employer-employee relationship,” the less selfish version of the truth still counts.

John gave a small smile at this before getting up and following him out of the rink, curious as to where Alexander had decided they were heading off to for the next few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So im going to try and update this either every day or every other day, bc im honestly really enjoying writing it
> 
> (and thanks for reading <3)


	3. Chapter 3

Alex couldn't help the peculiar excitement he felt when John actually followed after him out of the rink. Curiosity picked at the taller of the two as he couldn’t help wondering where exactly they were going. In all fairness, this probably wasn't the safest idea, but Alex seemed trustworthy so far, so John went along willingly. 

"So where exactly are we off to?" John couldn't help himself from feeling more than a little proud as to how steady his voice came out when he asked the question. 

“See that building over there?” he nodded to a big building with a bigger parking lot. "It's a mall. Opened a couple years ago, so it's still fairly new, but the initial rush has calmed down since then. Ten minute walk."

John nodded as continued on behind him, looking at the mall in genuine excitement. As the two kept on, Alex turned to walk backwards, now facing John with a certain look the taller of the pair couldn't quite place. 

"So what brought you to our rink?" John was taken aback by the straightforwardness of the question, and yet couldn't help but to find it comforting. It seemed that there wasn’t going to be any grueling small talk with the man. Then he couldn't help from feeling disappointment when he realized something. This was why Alex had brought him on break.He just wanted to learn the basics of his new employee, not make a friend.

“Well I've lived in South Carolina my whole life, I guess I just wanted some change of pace," he gave a small shrug, hoping Alex wouldn't delve any further. He had only just started here; he didn’t want to loose his job on the first day because of how impulsive he used to be.

Yet it was as though Alex had some sort of psychic powers or something, because at this answer he only narrowed his eyes at John and waited, maintaining eye contact as he continued walking backwards down the sidewalk that led toward the mall. And John couldn't help but feel himself give under the relentless gaze; maybe Alex wouldn’t be upset about who he had just hired.

"I got into one too many fights, got kicked out of my university for it. Before that, my parents had already decided that I didn’t belong in their household. So here I am," he finished with a small gesture to his surroundings. 

Apparently John’s second attempt to pin him down was more accurate than the first, because Alex paused for a moment so he could walk forward again, this time side by side with John. He looked down at the man and fought that part of his brain that wanted to pull Alex's hand from his pocket so John could hold it. After all, it was mostly that part’s fault he hadn’t been permitted back into his home after he was kicked from school.

He glanced down at the small man, who, as he lead the way backwards along the sidewalk, his face was somehow a balance between focused and distracted that created a look of chaos in his eyes. Looking forward, John decided to return the question after a pause in the conversation.

“How did you get here? To the rink I mean,” John could practically hear the tires screeching to a halt in Alex’s thoughts when he spoke the question aloud. Alex tensed defensively, and when he spoke, it was with precision, only words that he chose carefully as he answered the question tensely.

“I came to the states about five years ago and the rink sort of took me in. I’ve been here ever since. It’s the place where I feel at home.”

John tired his best to not get let down at the avoidance of the actual question, and tried to ignore the voice in his head that wanted to ask where Alex had been six years prior. At least he managed to get some information, though, he amended to himself. Maybe he could eventually get Alex to let down those defensive walls he had built up.

“What did you study?” Alex hoped that the change in subject could go unnoticed, but so far John had shown himself to be more than a little observant. To be entirely fair with himself, though, he was at least a little curious as to what someone who managed to get into enough fights to get kicked out of a university liked to study.

“I was majoring in history- United States history to be more exact,” Alex’s face lit up at this new information. History was definitely a subject he could talk about, and talk he did. He asked John about what it was like to get to study that in university, if the professors actually knew the topic well enough to teach it the “right way”, and when they reached the mall was when the two had reached the topic of how American history relates to American present. In turn, John had learned that Alex was fascinated by United States economics and wrote his own self directed essays on them.

John also learned that when Alex was going on about something he was passionate about, he could go on forever, with bright eyes and a newfound skip in his step. The excitement was something that John found the only proper adjective for to be “adorable”.

Alex had gotten so caught up in the conversation that he hadn’t even noticed when they entered the mall. In fact, the two had been so engrossed in the discussion that neither even noticed where they were going, John simply following Alex who let his feet carry him in whatever direction habit led him along.

They were startled from their conversation by a stranger’s voice asking what they would like to order. John blinked, looking up and quickly piecing together that the pair had somehow managed to not only arrive at the food court of the mall, but get in line at the pizza place there. The two ordered and paid for their food, and when the got their slices, they made this way to an isolated table in the far corner of the food court, away from the rest of the mall’s crowd.

When they sat down, Alex brought up a topic he had been wondering about ever since John first brought it up. “So how exactly does one manage to get into enough fights to be kicked out of their university?”

John let out a laugh between bites of his pizza as he reflected on that question himself.

“I am what one may call opinionated. I know what I believe and I’ll fight for those beliefs,” he said steadily, sparing a glance up to Alex as he finished confidently, “whether with words or with fists.”

John was unsure if being this honest was a good thing around his new manager, but Alex smiled. It was a type of smile that John could get used to: one makes you believe that he understands exactly what you mean, maybe even more than you do yourself. John decided then that Alexander was quite possibly the most intriguing person he had ever had the pleasure of getting to know.

John smiled back before remembering something Alex had only briefly mentioned when he was initially showing John around the rink. “But you may not be too found of the information given you’re position as the security manager,” it was a statement, but the way he said it made Alex think it sounded more like a question, compelling him for a form of answer.

“Well,” Alex took a gulp of his drink, some coffee that John wasn't even sure where he got it from, before continuing on. “I only got promoted to that a few years ago. When I got here he seemed to view himself as my father figure, and frankly, I think he still does. But even with where I am now, old Habits die hard. And where I came from, I learned to fight for my beliefs, almost exactly as how you say you do. The general seemed to think that I’d be better off in a position where I can freely kick people out and argue with them, but without risking loosing my job.”

John listened carefully to every word, and Alex couldn't help loosing himself in John’s deep gaze as he continued through the story. The two continued on talking for the rest of their meal, everyone else in the mall, even in the rest of the world, faded from them as they engaged with each other, learning everything they could and enjoying every second of it.

Once again, time escaped them through their ongoing conversation, and they were forced from it to the sound of Alex’s phone buzzing, and alarm going off. John stared questioningly at Alex, obviously wondering if he would be willing to share more about why he even had to have the alarm.

When Alex explained that he sometimes got too carried away with his essays and that he used the alarms to make sure he didn’t write through work, he tried not to notice how John’s face fell, even if it was just by a little bit. “How often do you do that?”

Alex fell back into his usual response to that very question: shrugging and attempting to change the topic for the sake of any other conversation he could possibly be having. He was immensely relieved when John didn't push the subject, instead rifling through his pockets. Pulling his phone out, John thrust it into Alex’s own hands.

“Put your number in. I can text you before shifts to make sure you aren’t too wrapped up in writing.”

Alex took the phone with an even expression, entering his number under his name. He tried to bury his dread at the idea of another friend trying to treat him like some kind of child the best he could, but John must have been able to tell, because he fell back into a silence as the two started together back to the ice rink.

As they finally approached the entrance of the building, he looked over to John. “Oh and by the way, you’re going to be meeting the rest of the skate guard team tonight. Lafayette and Hercules have been with the rink for three years now; they're practically brothers to me.”

John looked at Alex carefully. “Well you have a story, and so do I. What’s theirs?” 

Alex answered easily and freely when he spoke, “Laf moved here from France, and when Herc got first got here, he got along too well with us for the general not to notice.”

John nodded, walking in through the sliding front doors of the rink side by side with Alex, whose attention went straight to the man at the front desk.

Alex groaned when he saw him, making John wonder who he could be. His thoughts were answered before he could put too much thought into it, though, when Alex drawled out an annoyed, “Aaron Burr, sir. My favorite eyesore. Have any obnoxious customers tonight?” as he walked by, glancing at him through the side of his view.

“I sure haven’t, Hamilton.”

“Shame.”

“Enjoying your newest boy toy?”

“Of course,” Alex seemed to raise his chin smugly and draw out the vowels as if to enunciate the end of the conversation so that he got the last word over Aaron.

John marveled at the interaction, amusement clear as the pair made their way over to the skate rental.There were already two other men behind it. One let out a warm “Bonjour, mon ami. Is this the new guy?”

“Bonjour, Lafayette, and yes, this is John,” John practically melted at the sound of Alex speaking in french, regardless of how quickly Alex had moved back from it.

“John you could probably already figure out that this is our own frenchman, Lafayette,” he gestured to the other man, who was eyeing John suspiciously, and John tried his best to not shrink under the other man’s gaze. “This is Hercules.”

“So, new guy, where are you from?” Hercules asked, sounding genuinely curious.

And with that, John explained how he had been kicked out of university and kicked out of his house. When he mentioned the fighting part, Hercules snickered and pointedly looked back and forth between John and Alex. 

Neither of the two were able to catch what exactly he muttered under his breath, but Lafayette let out a small laugh and knocked against his shoulder.

“Well, I am sure you will fit right in, John. You already seem to get along quite well with Alex.” Lafayette’s thick accent and word choice left John red again, and Alex finally decided that the expression he had shown earlier that day was not necessarily nervousness. It was more along the lines of John being flustered. 

And Alex decided he loved seeing John get that way and wanted to do everything in his power to get him like that every chance he got.


	4. Chapter 4

The rink public session had been far more crowded for the 8-10 pm session than the previous session that day. Of course, this was something that always happened in the ever changing world of interacting with customers. It would be comforting if it weren’t for the fact that it was more so annoying.

Alex looked across the ice from where he stood at the door, making sure everyone that was getting onto the ice had paid and they were all wearing their wristbands thy had gotten when they paid. Lafayette and Hercules stood on opposite ends of the ice, watching to make sure no one was breaking too many rules at a time.

Alex had to leave John on skate rental duty, where he was to stand behind the counter for the next two hours and hand skates out to customers. He would have personally preferred to let John onto the ice for the session, but it was too crowded, and he needed the experienced staff out there that night.

But as he glanced around, Alex decided on his own authority that the door didn't need him watching it at the moment and slipped away to the skate rental area. John looked excited when he saw him joining, and Alex couldn’t help feeling the excitement spreading to himself.

Together, the two helped the occasional customer with their skates, and Alex took the opportunity to talk more with John. Their topics ranged from national debt to favorite ice cream flavors, and even to John swearing that he would get some Americone Dream ice cream for Alex if it was the last thing he did.

When the group he had been warned about entered the rink, John looked infinitely grateful that Alex was there and could help him hand out all the skates as fast as possible. It has been going smoothly, the only exception being one particular customer who had been incredibly rude to John when they ran out of his size in hockey skates. Alex lived for the moment when the customers demand to speak to a manager was met with his own pissed off glare and intimidating "I'm the manager." If John hadn't been standing there nervously, Alex wouldn't have hesitated to kick the guy out, but he didn't want to make John more uncomfortable than the guy already clearly was. 

Eventually, a huge crowd came out from the ice and into the lobby, with Lafayette and Hercules following. Alex issued each member their clean up jobs to end the night with a brief “motivational speech” that consisted of Alex claiming Hercules had “no skill with a broom” and that meant he would have to clean lobby with John instead. Then finishing by announcing that they ought to be able to leave early that night if they work hard enough, a goal they had just about every night at the rink.

Surprisingly enough, they actually managed to finish an extra fifteen minutes before they were scheduled to, something Alex fondly claimed was thanks to John. An act that earned groans from Lafayette and Hercules, but, more importantly in his opinion, gained some flustered responses from John.

After they headed their separate ways, Alex walked his way back to his apartment as per usual. When he finally reached it, the cold winter air biting at him as he went, he was thankful to walk into the warm room, make some coffee, grab his laptop, get comfortable, and begin to write.

\- - - - -

Alex woke up the next morning in a painful position curled over his desk. He let out a curse as he tried to stretch, only to be greeted with a sharp pain in his back and neck. He let out a sound of frustration at himself. Every time he fell asleep at his desk this is exactly what would happen. Waking his laptop, he saved his progress from the night before, hoping it was good enough to actually be worth saving.

Then, just as the day before, and just as every Saturday and Sunday since he had first been hired, Alex went to switch out his coffee with a fresher brew to take to with him. Today, though, he had woken up earlier than usual, and was feeling a little generous with himself. So, still stiff from his previous night’s sleeping position, he decided to head to the direction of the mall this morning in search of a quick food court breakfast.

After he had gotten his food and found a random empty table to sit down in, he pulled his phone from his pocket to check and make sure nobody had needed him for anything. And there, at the top of his screen sat a message from a number he hadn't saved to his own phone yet: 

555-6745: hope ur not going to be late for work today ;)

555-6745: shit

555-6745: :)

Alex let out a quiet laugh at his table in the mall, saving the number and sending a winky face in return, wishing he could see John get flustered over the message in person.

Walking back to the rink, he was pleased to see that Aaron's car wasn't anywhere in the parking lot. Other than that, the lot seemed fairly empty, something Alex was immensely grateful for. After all, less crowd meant he could spend more time talking to John. 

He had quickly and easily taken to liking John. He was outspoken and intelligent, and definitely knew about similar topics to those that fascinated Alex. And yet when there was something he didn't know, he was eager to learn, and John's expression turned into one Alex wanted nothing more than to instill in the other every chance he got. 

Alex walked in through the doors thinking about how John's face would light up, his eyes would widen in his curiosity- a strong contrast to how everything else about him would tense up in his eagerness to learn something new. 

When he reached the desk and gave a quick greeting to Eliza, he headed straight upstairs, taking two steps up the stairs in each stride. Had he turned around, he would have seen Eliza rolling her eyes at his rush to the second floor. 

When he got to his office, he immediately went to the computer there and began running through all of the old accident reports from customer who got injured on public sessions in the past. He scanned through each file, taking in every bit of information in his rush, before changing to look at every piece of the financial information of the building. 

Reaching into his desk drawer, he pulled out a pen and notebook. If Hamilton had been focused before, he was even more so now. Taking notes on how certain trends affected specific profits of the rink, how taxes changed over the course of the rink since it was built, drinking in the information in the same way he always did when he managed to get into the rink early enough to slip upstairs unnoticed. 

John came into the rink for his second day, saying a polite greeting to Eliza at the desk. Glancing around, he noticed Alex was nowhere to be seen. Eliza must have been able to sense his confusion, because the next thing he knew, she was telling him how to get to Alex's office. 

Following her directions and remembering when his new manager had shown him where the offices were the day prior, John made his way to a closed door. He noted that the light was on and seeping through the cracks around the door. John knocked, but to no response. 

When he tried again, still to no response, he started to get impatient. That was until he remembered something Alex had said in his rush of words the day before. Try the knob, John couldn't help his relief when it was unlocked and the door swung open easily. 

The sight before him was enough to relinquish his brief feeling of relief. Alex sat in front of a computer at a desk, various papers and books stacked chaotically around him. The fluorescent light above the man at the desk was bright and unrelenting.

Alexander himself looked to be in no better state than the room he sat in. The man sat there, eyes focused on the bright screen before him, writing furiously in a notebook. Closing the door behind him, John made his was past stacks of books to stand behind where Alex sat. 

John couldn't help growing more concerned when he realized Alex still hasn't even noticed John entering the room. 

"Alex?" Nothing. 

"Alex." Still nothing. 

"Alex!" John started getting worried. 

"Alexander!" The small man jumped in his seat, accidentally dropping his notebook in the process, pen still gripped tightly in his hand. He quickly gathered himself, though, reaching down to pick up his notebook, setting it and his pen back on his desk. 

"John. You surprised me there." A pause. "How long have been standing there?"

Alex maintained a questioning eye contact with John, brows furrowing as he looked up to John. He took note of the expression and realized for a moment that Alex look confused, kind of lost, and vulnerable as he sat in front of John. 

"Does any ever come up here to check on you?" John neglected to answer Alex's question. He had hoped for a yes, but Alex's innocent expression that John hadn't even known existed until mere moments ago. John could practically see him throwing his walls back up as fast as he could, tensing defensively. 

"No. I don't need my friends to baby sit me." Something in his eyes warned John to drop the subject. However, John was never one to pay attention to a caution sign when it was big and bold, right in front of his own nose.

"I'm not baby sitting. I'm asking how long you've been up here." 

Alex seemed to study him for a moment, gauging the reaction carefully, when John recalled brig told that Alex was one to start too many fights by Alexander himself. 

"It's nearly twelve now. How long?" A small part of John expected for the smaller man to snap at him in response to the sharp tone he used, but he was able to stop worrying when Alex deflated and looked at the time on the laptop to make sure he had heard right. 

"Um... three hours maybe?" The way his voice wavered at his response told John that the "maybe" was likely more accurate than the actual time Alex had given him. 

"Did you get lunch?" After the question left his mouth, John wasn't sure why he asked it. Alex hadn't even noticed him entering the room and shouting his name until the fourth try. Of course he hadn't eaten lunch yet. 

Alex couldn't help a small flinch when John grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him up and practically dragging the smaller man along behind him. 

He didn't question where he was being brought to, instead just choosing to let John lead the way. When they reached the rink's snack bar on the first floor, he let out a loud groan of annoyance. John simply returned the groan louder, smiling when Alex let out a laugh. 

He started fidgeting in his place, mind running of to other subjects as he looked around the rink, not paying any attention to whatever John had decided was important enough to drag Alex from his office half an hour before their shift actually started. 

He cursed himself under his breath when he jumped again at John shoving a pop tart at him. 

"Not really lunch, but it's better than nothing," John rolled his eyes affectionately when Alex scowled at his statement. 

"Sure you're not baby sitting?" He asked sarcastically, taking a bite of the snack, making sure to put John's current worries to rest. 

Alex walked past him, knocking into his shoulder on the way. With a huge smile, John followed closely behind him, easily catching up to walk beside the shorter man. 

"We still have half an hour until we have to start our shifts."

"That's true."

John cocked an eyebrow at Alex's statement. "So what are we going to do until then."

"We're going to go check maintenance and electrical. Make sure everything is still working the way it needs to in order for the building to stay standing."

John wondered what exactly that meant, but decided against asking any more questions. Alex was clearly not the type to enjoy being fired at by question after question. So when he started rambling again as the pair walked around, John drank in every second of it. Especially the seconds when Alex would look up at him and offer a small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys enjoyed this chapter <3


	5. Chapter 5

By the end of the night’s shift, the skate guard team was utterly exhausted. When John had finally finished sweeping the lobby and the snack bar, he made his way back to the skate rental to find a yawning Hercules lying across the counter, mumbling something under his breath about customers leaving unnecessary messes. John didn’t hesitate to hop onto the counter next to him and start swinging his legs as they waited for Alexander and Lafayette to finish cleaning the locker rooms. 

Finally, a certain frenchman came running over to the two of them, leaping up onto them at full speed, causing John to involuntarily yelp at the sudden extra weight being thrown across him. Lafayette and Hercules busted into laughter at his reaction, quieting down in time for Alex to walk over from putting his broom away and look at the pile of friends with a face full of amusement. The night’s shift had run past the scheduled time, and Alex found their tiredness to be quite clear in how hard they were laughing together. 

“Alright guys, its late, we should probably head home before we each get too tired.”

“Ah, mon ami, Alexander, do try not be such a - correct me here if I am wrong, John - but I believe that the word I am looking for right now is buzzkill.”

Lafayette couldn't resist laughing at his own joke while Hercules snorted into his own laughter. John had a hint of a smile on his face until he looked over at an Alex whose face was starting to show signs of irritation. He dropped the smile and gave a shove to Lafayette, trying to sit himself up from his current position from under the frenchman.

“C’mon, you baguette,” John said as he slid down from where he sat on the counter, protesting politely and with a smile, “Alex has a fairly good point.”

Hercules made a sound of agreement as he hopped off the counter, leaving a puzzled Lafayette to be the only employee left on the counter. Alex’s look of slight impatience never fully left, and John truly hoped that Lafayette wouldn't try to stall leaving anymore. But all he did was open his mouth to say something to Alex, seem to reconsider and close his mouth, only to then open it again, this time to John, and in the most confused voice John was sure he’s ever heard or ever would hear, asked him quietly, “Did… did you just call me a baguette?”

Alex’s impatience flipped into laughter that was joined immediately by Hercules’ and John’s. 

“Yes, I did. Now come on, Baguette, it’s time to clock out an go home already.” 

Lafayette feigned offense while his eyes lit up with amusement, hopping energetically off of the counter and making his way to clock out, the rest following behind him to do the same.

When they walked out of the building, Alex switching the lights off and locking the doors behind them, Lafayette and Hercules called out a farewell as they made their way to their cars in the lot. That was when John realized that each of their cars along with his were the only ones he could see in the entire lot. Turning to Alex as they stood in the cold winter air, Alex gave him a dazzling smile that managed to distract John from his concerns for a moment before turning the other way and starting to walk to cross the carless lot.

John glanced down quickly at the car keys he had pulled from his pocket to hold in his hand. Quickly, he decided to turn to and make his way to Alex before he could get out of his reach.

“How do you get home?” Concern lined John’s voice as he started his way towards Alex slowly, almost as if he were a frightened and lost animal John was trying not to startle.

Alex stopped in his tracks, calling the answer over his shoulder, “I walk.” When he saw the flash or worry pass his friend's face, he tried to diffuse the situation. 

Worry was not a look Alex ever wanted to see on John. 

“It’s not that far, and I always walk, you don’t have to worry.”

“Everyday?” John had caught made his way up to Alex and reached a hand to hold the smaller man’s shoulder as he spoke to him, nervousness seeping into the edges of his verbs and the way he stood. Clearly, Alex’s attempt to calm him had not been successful and in fact done quite the opposite. He decided to try and approach the situation from a different angle, but John got his words out first.

“Why don’t you let me drive you?” a peculiar look crossed over Alex’s face, and John tried to amend the statement quickly. “I won’t make you let me any other night, just tonight. Please?”

Alexander realized that accepting his offer would be the only way to calm him from his worries, so he forced himself to relax as much as he could before giving out his hushed answer, “Alright.”

John’s smile was worth the deal, Alex decided when John heard the response and turned to lead the way to his car. Alex noted that the car itself was actually fairly nice and new as he opened the passenger door to climb in next to John.

The car ride went on in silence, only to be broken when Alex had to give John directions to his apartment. Other than that, the smaller man was unsure of what to say, something that never happened to him. In fact, the entire situation was filled with things that never happened to him, all with John thrown in the middle as the root cause.

No one ever noticed he didn't have his own car. No one ever asked if he had a ride home. No one ever showed concern when he said he walked there. No one ever offered him a ride home. No one ever cared about him. Yet here he was, with someone who managed to do all of those things in the span of the last fifteen or so minutes, as he found himself being driven home in a comfortable silence.

The quiet was broken when pulled in front of the apartment building Alex had directed him to and cut the engine. “So I take it you’re off to sleep now, given the whole ‘it’s late’ lecture back at the rink.”

Alex shrugged, an action that John had grown to quickly realize meant that whatever he was about to say was going to be just about exact opposite of what you wanted to hear. “I’m going to write for bit first.”

John remembered when he had found Alex that same day up in his office, so focused his reading and writing that it took four tries to get his attention at all, and he pieced that to when Alex had mentioned that he had to have alarms on his phone so he wouldn't miss work because he had been to caught up in something else. After putting two and two together, John decided his plans for the night.

He looked to Alex carefully, and noted how he seemed to be able to read his mind, as everything about his face seemed to be warning John to turn back, to simply leave him to write until the sun rose or he passed out in his own exhaustion.

“Can I ask you a favor, my friend?” Alex nodded slowly, eyes narrowed suspiciously as John continued, thinking over each word as carefully as he could before he put it out into the open. “You see, I live a fairly significant distance from here, and it's not really safe for someone to dive too much when they're this tired. Would you mind if I were to crash here for the night?” He looked to Alex hopefully, and Alex could feel the last of his tiring resolve melt.

“I suppose I owe you, for giving me ride and all,” Alex said, trying his best not to seem to eager.

John’s face lit up like the night sky on the Fourth of July at Alex’s words, though. And he couldn't help returning the smile as they headed out from the car and into the apartment. 

Alex immediately went to his desk with his laptop on it, sitting down in his chair and opening the possession he cared so much for. Looking up, he watched as John walked into the small apartment, looking around and taking in his surroundings. If he had thought Alex’s office was messy, then this was on a whole other level entirely. Books were stacked just about every other than the bookshelf in the back of the room, which was filled and even overflowing onto the ground below with stacks of papers and printed packets and pamphlets.

The next thing John was able to notice amongst the chaos was that other than the shelf and desk and chair Alex now sat at, the only other furniture present was a single bed. Alex must have noticed what John was thinking about, because he quickly supplied the information that John had just observed himself. 

“We would have to share for the night, if that’s alright with you?” he asked as he began clicking at various files on his laptop.

John nodded mutely before heading to the bed and laying down in it, trying to get comfortable.He listened as Alex typed away endlessly and began to drift off, exhaustion from the long day finally getting to him as he allowed it to claim victory over him, lulling him into a calm sleep.

However, he awoke to the sound of continued typing soon after and groggily looked over to Alex as he sat exactly as John had last remembered. He noticed how focused Alex looked as he typed with a furious speed, all attention directly on the screen before him. It was exactly as he had looked the last time John had seen him typing, and he realized that this behavior must be something he does very, very frequently.

Frowning, John got up onto tired, unsteady feet and walked over to stand behind Alex as the smaller man continued to type. John was far too tired still to even call his name above the volume of a whisper. Checking the time that stared back at him from the corner of the laptop’s display, John realized that he had been writing for the past four hours straight, as it was currently nearing three in the morning. So even if he did have the energy to shout Alex out of his trance, he figured his neighbors likely wouldn't appreciate that.

Instead, he let himself act on impulse, wrapping his arms around Alex, who froze in place, typing coming to an abrupt end. “John.” He whispered out. Voice threatening to betray the observation to be a question, a search for confirmation. 

“It’s late, you need sleep,” John mumbled into Alex’s soft locks. He was sure that he should feel embarrassed about the interaction, but at this point he was too tired to truly care. 

“No, I need to finish this essay. It’s nearly complete now,” but the yawn that followed his answer did a better job at answering John’s request.

“You can finish it tomorrow. Right now you need sleep.” John justified sleepily, starting to punch the laptop shut. 

Alex reluctantly saved and closed his files, setting his laptop back on his desk and turning back to John, who grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him to the bed lazily. Flopping down and pulling the cover over the both of them, John turned to face the wall before trying to fall back to sleep as he had before. 

But now there was an added distraction laying right beside him, and when Alex tapped him gently, signaling for him to turn around, he was surprised by the sudden and slightly awkward embrace that greeted him. Alex took the moment to mumble something into John’s shoulder that he couldn't quite make out.

“What was that?”

Alex moved back from the embrace, much to John’s disappointment. “I said thank you. For driving me home and keeping me company. No one has ever done that for me.”

John felt a pang of sadness as he glanced down at the normally so outstanding and outspoken man who lay next to him, feeling an unexpected wave of protectiveness wash over him. He wasn’t quite sure what to say to this, how to capture how he felt with words that he was confident enough to share with Alex, so he resorted to giving him a comforting squeeze in the welcome quiet before the pair each drifted of into their own sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you guys so much for the support and thank you so much for reading this <3


	6. Chapter 6

John awoke the next morning to a cold room, and forced himself deeper into the mess of sheets and covers around him in an attempt to avoid whatever lay ahead of him for that day. However, he was shaken from his position to the sound of someone typing away furiously at key board. Looking out from behind the covers, John recalled the previous night’s events as he looked at a focused Alex who wrote into his laptop without a sign of stopping any time soon.

Shivering in the chilly room, John got to his feet sleepily. He decided to continue past Alex that morning, heading to the small kitchenette on the other side of the tiny apartment. He frowned a little when all he could find was food that ranged from assorted fruit snacks to pop tarts, with ramen noodles filling the empty spaces in between.

He looked back over to his friend, watching him for a short moment as he continued typing, seemingly unaware of John even waking up yet. Grabbing one of the many black sheets of paper and pens lying all around the apartment, he scribbled a quick note onto the paper and left it on the desk where hamilton sat. Somehow, John wasn’t surprised when Alex showed no signs of noticing what he was doing. Heading out the door and to his car, John decided where he was going to head off to and made his way there.

Back in the apartment, Alex paused for a short moment in his writing, as if a wall had somehow shown up to stop his train of thought right in its tracks. Blinking back into reality, Alex glanced behind his desk to his bed, suddenly realizing that John was no longer where he had left him. 

Panic began to swell in him as he scanned the apartment as quickly as he could, trying to locate his friend, worry filling him as he his breath began to quicken. Where could he have gone? What if something bad happened to him? What if he decided that he was actually just sick of Alex, and never wanted to have to even catch a glimpse of him again?

Only then did he notice the piece of paper dropped next to his laptop. Frantically, he picked the page up and assumed that what he saw before him was John’s handwriting. Breath slowly beginning to even itself back out, he read over the short letter a few times. He closed his eyes, racing heart slowing back down, the short burst of adrenaline leaving his system gradually. John was perfectly fine, he had just gone to grab something that could qualify as breakfast.

Yet now, as he made to continue his writing, he found that he couldn't get his focus back to his work. Instead, he could only wonder where John had decided to go and how long it would take for him to get back from there. So, with a mind that was too busy being concentrated on another topic, he found himself pacing back and forth in his apartment leisurely, mind somehow thinking on everything and nothing all at once.

Time escaped him until he he jumped to the sound of the apartment door opening. John walked into the room with a wide smile at Alex, McDonald’s bag in hand. Alex made to grab the bag from John’s hands, but John used his height as an advantage and help the bag up and out of his reach. Alex refrained from jumping at the bag, for the sake of his own pride.

Crossing his arms, he stood before John with his chest puffed out, as though he were trying to look intimidating. John only giggled at the behavior, and the reaction only managed to intensify at Alex’s offered expression.

“I’m sorry,” he somehow got out between his laughs, “but your scary security manager intimidation tactics don't work on me.”

Alex’s posture broke at this and he muttered out his response, “Fucking fight me, Laurens.”

“Sure thing, but only after you eat some breakfast,” John answered, ruffling his small friend’s long hair as he walked past him to sit on the desk chair.

Alex groaned in annoyance. “I’m not hungry, though,” he voiced his protests to his taller friend as he made to sit on the edge of the messy bed in the messy room.

“Not hungry?” John asked with suspicion. “The last thing you ate was a pop tart before our shift yesterday, and even that took plenty of convincing to get you to eat.”

Alex looked as though he was prepared to debate further on the subject when his stomach made its own argument loudly, clearly siding with John. With a resigned sigh at the expectant look on John’s face, he sat down unceremoniously on the bed across from where John sat in his desk’s swivel chair.

“Can I at least sit in my own chair?”

“Nope,” John started pulling wrapped up food from the bag, the smell of grease and butter filling the room. “If you sit here, you’ll end up getting on your laptop, which means you’ll end up writing, which means you’ll end up not eating.” John finished his statement by tossing Alex his food as he couldn't help finding how much John had already figured out about him and how he had already figured out how to take care of him without babying him to be kind of sweet and endearing.

He started eating the sausage biscuit John had brought for him, before looking to what John held in his hand. Immediately, he snatched the bag and pulled out a second hash brown gleefully. John watched on as Alex showed absolutely no signs of hesitation to eat the greasy goodness, clearly amused, “Did I forget to mention that I got hash browns, too?"

“Mhm,” Alex had already gotten to eating it, filled to the brim with content. 

Eventually, the two had finished their meals and decided that they clearly needed something to do for the day. John suggested seeing a movie and started tripping over his own words when Alex teased him about the idea. In the end, though, they found themselves standing out side the nearest theater, looking over the movies that were playing.

Finally, the pair decided on seeing Star Wars at John’s request, even though he had already seen he movie twice, apparently. They walked in side by side, laughing at one thing or another as they made their way to the theater, John growing more and more excited as the two made their way inside the screen room. 

Alex looked around the huge room, something he hardly visited. But, glancing over at a John who could hardly contain his excitement as he led Alex to a seat. The pair whispered to each other all throughout the credits about anything and everything that cam to their minds, and Alex couldn't help but finding himself to actually be enjoying the freeness of the conversation. He loved how he could openly speak his mind and find that John would do the same with him.

When the movie started John stopped mid sentence to hush Alex, and the only word that came to his mind to describe the behavior was endearing. After that, Alex tried to pay attention to the movie, but the ways John would laugh at the jokes and lean over to whisper things about what was happening in the film to Alex were too adorable for him to focus on anything but his far more captivating friend. 

When the movie finally reached its end, Alex couldn't help the disappointment that he couldn't watch John get excited over it anymore. He was also fully prepared to admit that he actually had no idea what was going on at any point in the movie.

Walking out of the theater, John looked down to him excitedly, “So?”

“So?”

He rolled his eyes. “The movie? You hadn’t seen it, right? How’d you like it?”

When Alex only shrugged, John looked vaguely disappointed, but he masked it well behind a dramatic gasp. “Only that good?”

Alex bumped his shoulder affectionately before finally supplying a proper answer, “I’ve never seen any of the other ones, so I guess it just didn't seem as good to me.”

John stopped, frozen in his tracks, disbelief and shock evident on his features. “You've never seen Star Wars! Oh well now I definitely know what else we need to do.”

"It's already past lunch time, but you can come over to my apartment and marathon it if you want to. We don't have to work until Friday," John invited hopefully. The man with the long auburn hair hesitated, he had heaps of writing left that he had to do, and so he spoke up with the concern.

"I still have to write."

"When do you have to have the writing done by?"

Alex thought for a moment about his answer, he didn't necessarily have to have it done by any specific point in time, writing endlessly was just what he did. He spoke this thought to John, who smiled kindly, a smile that John found that he could feel himself beginning to fall for, growing to desire going to any lengths to earn. 

"Alex, you spend every weekend at work, and then when you aren't there you spend second of your life writing. How about you take the day away from it? Let yourself take a break?"

For a short moment, Alex was about to snap at John for putting the idea out there. But when he looked up at him, he was met with that kind smile once more, only this time it was paired with a hopefully gleam in John's soothingly brown eyes, and Alex could feel his resolve melt away from him. 

"Alright. I guess I can afford one day," he said slowly, uncertainty showing on him at the prospect of missing time to write, but the words were like music to John's ears. 

"Then we're off to my apartment," John said with a tone of finality, leading the way back to the car. 

The ride was longer than Alex had expected. John was going on about how excited he was to get to be the one to show his friend the movies. 

"Seriously though, how have you not seen them before? I mean, I know some people haven't, but why haven't you?" John glanced over at him carefully, hoping he would provide an honest answer. For a second he looked like he was just going to blow it off, shrug the question from his shoulders, but then he looked over at John for a moment, and John could tell that he was thinking faster than even he Alex could keep up with. 

"They weren't all too popular where I come from. So when I came to the states, the excitement over the movies had already passed, so I just hadn't been interested enough in them."

"Where did you come from?" John could tell that he was poking at a sleeping lion who didn't want to be woken, but couldn't seem to get himself to stop. This was something he had been wondering since he had first met the peculiar guy. 

"Unimportant." Alex said quickly, and John realized that the conversation he had been hoping to have had already ended before it even had the chance to begin. 

Still, curiosity picked at him, and he looked over at his friend, trying his best to piece him together, only to find that the pieces he had couldn't even fit together. It was as though they were each pieces to a separate puzzle, pieces that shouldn't fit next to each other. 

He let the conversation drop, though. He wouldn't ever get to find out if he pressed too hard against Alex's unbreakable walls. 

John's apartment was definitely far nicer than Alex's. With far less chaos among all oh his belongings, Alex couldn't help feeling that it reflected him well as a person. Even the small areas of the counters and shelves reflected John perfectly. 

John turned the tv on to play the movies, and Alex couldn't help feeling out of place in the room. Everything that sat in the room was clean and well, nice. The couch there was new, as was the tv John had started to fiddle with. The paint on the walls looked almost fresh, a harsh comparison to the peeling paint of Alex's own apartment. 

He was hit by a wave of curiosity as he looked to John. He began paying close attention to how he acted in the room, how he had acted at the rink, the mall, Alex's own apartment, how the room was mostly clean with a few hidden spots of clutter. He drew himself to the conclusion that as out of place that he get in the room, John seemed to be as well. 

The curly haired brunet turned to look at Alex once had had put the movie in. Alex realized he was still standing awkwardly in the room, unsure where he should sit. After all, unfamiliar places were certainly not his forte. 

John must have been able to see the nerves written all over how he stood and looked around, and tried to piece together why the man who was always so outspoken and so energetic stood quietly in the room, only to find that the pieces simply couldn't fit. 

While Alex had proven to be one who could speak passionately about nearly any topic without end, John was simply not that type of person. So rather than announce to him that they could start the movie, he simply walked past him towards the couch, gently grabbed him by the wrist to guide him. 

Alex sat on the opposite side of him, and all he could think about as he started the first movie of the marathon was how badly he wanted to close the space between them. As he he battled on inside his head, opening scrawl of episode four going on in the background, Alex leaned over until he rested against John, head pressing lightly into his shoulder as he swung his feet up on the other side of the couch. 

At that, John let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, relaxing into the warmth of he smaller man who leaned up on him, looking down to see him completely focused on the words filling the tv in front of them. 

And John was faced with another piece of the ever expanding and ever confounding puzzle that is Alexander Hamilton, because in that moment, the only word he could think of to describe the man was innocent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and now im off to my own skate guarding shift for the night


	7. Chapter 7

By the time they got towards the end of episode five, Alex was laying comfortably across the couch, head in John's lap as he kept himself completely in the film. John's fingers were absentmindedly tangled in his hair, running through the soft, dark strands. 

He felt his phone vibrate on the couch against his leg, and pulled his hands from Alex, who subconsciously let out a quiet whine in protest, and went to check the notifications, the man laying down still fully focused on the movie as it approached a climactic end. 

555-1757: does anyone want to get food

555-1757: or do i have to eat here at applebees alone like a loser

555-1740: alone, loser

John looked down at the conversation as it went on in confusion. Looking down to glance at Alex, he noticed that the latter's phone sat on the end table in front of the couch, and on it the exact conversation carried on, but with the unfamiliar numbers replaced with "Baguette" and "Hercumemes"

He picked up his own phone, entering "Laf" and "Herc" as the names in his own contacts before waiting as the movie came to an end, credits beginning to scroll across the screen as Alex turned over just enough to look up at John expectantly. 

"The next one?"

John found that he would have been thrilled to stay where they were and finish up the original trilogy right then and there, but almost on queue, both of their phones lit up. The smaller of the two's attention immediately switched to checking his screen, reading through the short conversation and the latest response before answering it. 

Baguette: ok rude

Alex: yeah we can be there

John: wow ignoring me in favor of the group chat

John: i see how it is

John: after all this bonding

John: just gonna leave me behind

Alex: You're in the group chat

Alex: That means you're invited

Baguette: im sorry but what was that about bonding

Baguette: exactly what kind of bonding is going on over there

Hercumemes: yeah can we go back to that pls??

John: oh my god

John: that is not what i meant

Alex: ;)

John looked down to where Alex still lay, head in his lap as he looked up at John, who seemed like he was still trying to decide how he would voice his concerns at Alex's text. Instead of waiting for him to form the words though, Alex winked up at him from his current position, smirking at how red and flustered John got before sitting up. 

John got to his feet after Alex, grabbing his wallet and car keys before the two headed out and to Applebee's. After a car ride filled with Alex rambling excitedly about Star Wars, they arrived at the restaurant, right across the street from the rink and Alex's apartment. 

They found Hercules and Lafayette easily, joining them at their table. Lafayette just raised his eyebrows suggestively at Alex when the other two weren't looking, leaving Alex with the strong need to send an accusing glare back, trying to warn him off the topic. Ladayette must have picked up on his my so subtle warning because after that, the conversation of the table flowed easily between the four, no sign of stopping anytime soon as they jumped from topic to topic. 

After everyone’s food came, they somehow got onto the topic of working at the rink after leaving it and coming back to it a few times already. This time, though, the conversation felt more passionate, focusing on frequent customers. Alex still didn’t seem as interested in the conversation, still participating fully, but now without that passion he got when he talked about the things he found fascinating, like the current state of the national debt.

But then Lafayette mentioned a name John hadn't become familiar with yet. Judging by Alex’s reaction, they were clearly someone John desperately needed to know more about, but somehow they had already all started running off on complaints about the guy.

“Wait. Who’s Jefferson?” John interrupted, confusion evident in his voice. 

Lafayette turned to John quickly, rushing out his answer the best he could, “Before Alexander starts going off, Thomas Jefferson is a frequent customer to the rink who-“

“Thomas Jefferson is the worst asshole to ever exist.” Alex turned to John, looking him in the eye, and John saw a different kind of fire in his gaze, one that seemed more dangerous than the look of excitement John had grown quite fond of. Suddenly, he was able to understand exactly how someone so small could be promoted to security manager.

“He insults every other person in the world with his mere existence. His own birth certificate is an apology from the condom factory. Just because he comes from some rich southern family, he thinks he runs the whole god damned country or something.”

John tore his gaze away from Alex to look over to Lafayette and Hercules. “So what exactly did he do to earn this reaction to his name being mentioned?”

This time it was Hercules who spoke, sarcasm biting harshly into his tone, “The question is more like what didn't he do?”

“First time that he came in, our dear Alexander leaned over and whispered to me, ‘See that guy over there? He’s going to be an asshole. I just know it.’ And then sure enough, the guy comes over to us at skate rental and proceeds to think of every possible reason he can to make us get him pair after pair after pair of skates.” Lafayette told the story with a look of complete exasperation.

“Then when I called him out on it, he had the nerve to resort to giving me insult upon insult!” Alex’s face was utterly offended, and John couldn't help wondering what kind of insults had rendered that reaction one to still be applicable, but his curiosity was answered soon, always.

“He said that I ‘am living proof that it's possible for animals to be able to exist and function without a brain,’” Hercules muttered angrily. 

“He told me that he’d ‘tell me to go back to France, but even France doesn’t want me,’” Lafayette narrowed his eyes at his drink as he stated his claim. John couldn't help his shock. These were horrible things to say, especially to people who had never done anything to you.

He looked over to Alex carefully, wondering what this Jefferson asshole had said to him that could leave him staring coldly ahead and into space. “He told me that he hopes I get deported,” Alex supplied nonchalantly. John couldn't help wondering why he had seemed so calm about the insult while Lafayette and Hercules were fuming with anger on the other side of the table, and mere moments ago he had such a fury in him. 

John came to the conclusion that there must be more that he's said. Alex must be putting up those walls John was so bent on takin down again. 

“Now whenever he comes in, ever since our... confrontation, he comes in with some other little pretentious ass. James Madison. I don't think the guy actually has any of his own thoughts, just repeats of everything Jefferson says running through his dead and empty brain,” Alex said bitterly.

“Wow. They sound like a delight,” John stated, sarcastically, eyes wide as he took a sip from his drink. "But what exactly do you mean by 'confrontation'?" John emphasized the question with air quotes. 

“That's the story of how Alex almost got him fired," Hercules supplied. 

John's interest only grew at this new information, and looked at Hercules expectantly, only for Lafayette to pick up the second half of the statement. “But its also thanks to him that Alex got that promotion.”

John raised his eyebrows at that, letting Hercules take the reigns of the conversation. “After a solid few months of him coming in, Alex had clearly gotten tired of his shit, as he still is now. So one day when Jefferson came in, he caused his usual issues, taking too long at skate rental, breaking as many rules as possible when he was on the ice, the usual douchebag behavior. But after the public skate was over that day, he chose to throw some extra insults Alex’s way. Then, when he was in the middle of a sentence, hurling insult after insult at Alex, he definitely did not expect Alexander to punch him straight in the face.”

“He deserved it,” Alex defended indignantly.

“Mon ami, Alexander, I am not saying he did not, because he certainly did, but you did break his nose.”

“He deserved it!” Alex tried to defend himself once more. 

“Broken, Alex. Did you not expect him to try to press charges?”

Alex looked back and forth between the two of them, face full of betrayal. “Alright, fine then. Ill just finish the story myself,” he turned to where he could face John fully, ignoring how Lafayette rolled his eyes and Hercules groaned.

John nodded at Alex, eager to hear whatever it was that happened next.

“So after I broke his nose, he hit back, and then that may have broken into a complete physical altercation.”

“May have?” John asked skeptically. 

“Shh I’m telling the story.” John couldn't help smiling at Alex’s reaction, but quieted himself nonetheless, only for Alex to be interrupted by the other side of the table. 

“The general manager, George Washington, had to come over to break up the fight.”

Alex turned to Hercules slowly, disbelief covering his features, “Hercules Mulligan! What did I just say to John?” 

John bit back a laugh as best as he could, prodding Alex’s shoulder. “Ok so what happened after he broke up the fight?”

“So this asshole,” the fiery anger in his eyes spark back into a flame, much to John’s amusement, “decided that he wanted to press charges against me, but that was only yet another mistake in his long list of fuck ups he's made. What he didn't know is that I research law, and as much as I tend to disagree with him, Burr studies law in school. So between the two of us and the help the General provided us with, Jefferson didn’t stand a chance.”

Alex looked like the most smug person John had ever seen in his entire life when he finished the story, and John took it in, amazed by how much could go down at the ice rink. 

“Then we get to the part where Alexander gets promoted,” Lafayette put in, making John look over at him in confusion. How could that possibly lead to a promotion?

“The General cared to much to fire Alex after the whole ordeal, after all, he practically took Alex in when he first showed up at the rink, confused and completely unfamiliar with the States.”

John filed that information in the back of his mind with the other puzzle pieces of Alexander Hamilton as soon as Hercules provided him with it.

“So he decided he couldn't just let one of his skate guards behaving so aggressively with customers, even if it only was with the extremely problematic ones. So, what position could do that without being put into a spot where they ought to be fired for it? Apparently, head of security.”

“So in a way, it really is thanks to Jefferson that you got promoted,” John concluded, looking over to Alex, who opened his mouth as though to debate the subject before slamming it shut, thoughts obvious as he fumbled for an argument.

After that, conversation at the table continued on as it had before, and John couldn't help looking over to Alex more than he probably should have. Finally, when checks were all paid, Hercules and Lafayette headed off their separate ways and Alex looked up to John thoughtfully before muttering something quietude that John could hardly make out. 

"Episode Six?" he almost whispered, a stark contrast to how he had behaved when the other two had been there, just a few short moments ago. 

Smiling softly, John nodded as he let out a, "Of course," that probably came out a little too excited, but for some reason he couldn't let himself care in that moment as he looked at the shorter man next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story is honestly so fun to write and i hope it's just as fun to read <3


	8. Chapter 8

By the time Friday rolled around, Alex had managed to get through all of the movies, and he couldn't help but try to get John flustered every chance he got. The first thing he noticed was how easy it was for Alex to turn John into a fluttering mess. All he had to do was sit just right, lean on John just enough, whisper just close enough to his ear, and John turn into a mess. 

The second thing he couldn't help noticing was how adorable it was when John’s face reddened just enough to bring out his freckles. He had already decided that the freckles John sported were perfect, a spread of constellations scattered across John.

The third thing he notices was how John would look over at him more than he would look at the movies. He must have thought he was going unnoticed. He wasn’t, of course, but Alex went ahead and let him think he was being perfectly subtle.

The fourth and final thing he noticed was that after the movies, when John would drop Alex back at his own apartment so that he could get writing done, John would seem hesitant to do so. He would still text Alex to remind him to get some sleep, something that had always annoyed Alex whenever Lafayette and Hercules had tried to do the same.

Pulling himself from these thoughts, Alex made his way into the rink, the cold air following him in from his walk through the crisp winter morning. He passed Aaron at the front desk with the shortest greeting he could manage, hoping with every fiber in his being that he wouldn't try to start conversation. When he didn’t, Alex let his thoughts wander on once more, making his way to do anything and everything around the rink.

The night before, Alex had been completely engrossed in his writing, only to be dragged out from it when he got what was apparently the third call in a row from John. At first, he worried that something was wrong with John, mind jumping to panic before he could even press the green answer button. 

“John, is something wrong?” he tried to mask the concern from his voice, but he didn't even to manage to convince himself.

A relieved sigh filled the other end of the line. “No, nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to make sure you were going to go to sleep sometime soon.”

Alex was slightly frustrated when found himself feeling somehow comforted by John’s protectiveness. “What if I was already asleep and you woke me up?”

“Alex, there is absolutely no way that you could have already fallen asleep by now,” Alex could practically hear the affectionate eye roll that came from the other end of the line. “Go to sleep, Alex.”

“I’m writing.”

“No, you're forcing yourself into immense amounts of sleep deprivation.”

Alex tried to think of the best argument he had, finally settling for muttering, “No I'm not.”

“Yes, you are. Sleep, Alexander.”

At that, Alex could feel his resolve beginning to slip, and when he tried to argue further, even as he saved his files and starting closing them one by one, but any argument he had was silenced by a long yawn that escaped him. 

“Alex?”

“Well I got a lot done already, so I guess it’s okay for tonight,” Alex had said reluctantly, closing his laptop with a slight look of tired regret.

Now, as the rest of the skate guard crew came into the rink, one by one, Lafayette and Hercules tried not to comment on how the shift in Alex’s energy. Somehow he seemed slightly less sleep deprived than usual, something that baffled the two until John walked over with a slight bounce filling his steps, giving the crowd a huge smile as he made his way to them.

Alex could practically feel Lafayette eying him and John as they began an in depth conversation about various movies that Alex had yet to see, and that John was more than excited to offer to share with him.

“You should come over next weekend! We can watch more movies again!” John offered excitedly, Alex found himself nodding in agreement. Getting to see more movies with John would be a perfect way to spend his night.

“Woah there, tomcat. We've got the New Year’s party next weekend,” Hercules interrupted, the conversation.

“Wait, what happens on New Year’s?” John asked, puzzled as he turned to face Lafayette and Hercules again.

“Every New Year’s the rink staff has a party at the general’s place. Everyone comes to it and pretty much everyone ends up getting completely wasted. Then everyone plays all of those corny party games that a drunken party wouldn't be complete without. It is truly a wonderful holiday.” Hercules explained to a John who nodded slowly in response. 

“And now that you're a member of the rink staff,” Alex trailed off as he looked at John calculatingly, as if her were already planning out exactly how the next night would go.

After that, the rest of the day had gone by as usual, everyone getting wrapped up in their own work until the sessions had ended and the rink was cleaned. After everyone filed out one at a time, Alex locked up the doors and made his own way out and into the cold winter air, something he doubted he would ever get used to, if the past five years had gone to show anything. 

When he reached his apartment, he made for a cup of steaming hot ramen noodles and his laptop. Night faded into day around him as he clacked endlessly at his keyboard, completely oblivious to the world around him, even as he missed multiple texts and calls from none other than John Laurens.

Even as the day wore on further, Alex never lost his focus,typing never ceasing as the hours passed him by, a half full cup of now cold ramen sitting dejectedly on his desk.

Something came into Alex’s vision that he didn't bother trying to focus on, eyes still trained on the screen in front of him. He could feel some type of pressure on his hands, as whatever, no whoever, had come into his apartment lifted his hands off of the keep board.

Blinking slowly, Alex tried to make sense of what was happening around him. The first thing he noticed was that his eyes hurt- something he was able to figure was the fault of the brightness of his screen.

He looked up at the person and was met with a face he had caught himself growing fond of as of late. That was until he saw the obvious concern, no, worry across the span of freckles and wide eyes. 

"Alexander it's nearly six in the evening. Have you slept at all since you got home?" John still hadn't let go Alex's hands, trying to still than as they shook just the slightest bit. 

"Six?" That seemed to snap Alex awake, John noted as he shook his head, loose strands of dark hair landing in front of his face. 

John frowned, but wasted no time in letting go of Alex's hands to he could push strands away. He stilled at the touch for a moment, wanting nothing more than to pull Alex in and make his hands stop shaking, but instead he stood back up straight and reached for the half empty ramen. 

Making his way to the small kitchen, John threw away the cold noodles and grabbed the first piece of food he could find, some unopened pop tarts on the counter. 

Heading back towards the desk Alex was still sat at, he saw Alex watching him through tired eyes. 

"I don't feel to well," Alex's voice was shaky as he forced the words out of his dry throat, voice coming out scratchy, sounding to John as if he had only just realized this. 

"That's because you haven't had anything to eat since about midnight last night," John said sternly as he handed an unwrapped pop tart to Alex. "And you haven't had anything to drink for even longer." As he finished the statement, John turned back to the kitchen to find where his friend stored cups and got him a cup of water quickly, making his way back to his small friend who had made slight progress on his snack. 

"Here, drink some water, you'll feel better."

Alex forced himself to down as much as he could, thoughts too tired for him to process the care that John was showing him enough to try and protest. 

John watched in silence as Alex worked his way through his snack and drink. Finally, John urged the tired one up, guiding him to his own bed as he stumbled unceremoniously toward the tangle of sheets. 

He tried but failed to fight back a loud yawn as John convinced him onward. 

For once, Alex was quiet, and the silence only worried John further, but he was pulled from his concerns when the shorter pulled him down alongside him onto the covers and blankets that had been left in unkempt heaps. Sprawled across the mattress, Alex immediately closed his eyes, leaving John to start his way back up. 

He was stopped, though, as Alex's hand connected once more with his own as he huffed out a nearly silent, "stay."

John immediately stopped his attempts to leave, instead opting to try to get himself more comfortable as Alex began to doze off. 

Before he realized he was even doing it, John's hands had once found their way back to Alex's soft strands and he began running his fingers through just as he had that day at his own apartment. 

He let his thoughts wander as he laid there, but no matter where he started them, they always ended up back at the very man who laid next to him deep in his own sleep.

Where exactly Alex was from was an easy starting point to wonder about. He had seemed reluctant to share past the fact that where ever it was it was rough and out of the country. And on top of that, why did he spend so much time writing? He constantly let himself lose sleep and other basic necessities for the sake of writing more. 

It wasn't healthy, and he had made it clear that it wasn't a behavior he would change any time soon. 

"Why do you write like you won't reach the next day?" John whispered sadly to the sleeping man next to him, drifting into unconsciousness himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I'm back from finals week with regular updates again, so thank you for reading my trash <3


	9. Chapter 9

When John awoke slowly to find Alexander still breathing softly next to him, he felt a wave of relief. For once, he had let himself sleep in instead of waking in unreasonable hours to write. The feeling of ease passed quickly when he finished processing the observation. 

Alex was always up early and typing away, never sleeping in. Thinking back to the state John had found him in the day before, he decided to slip his way from Alex’s side to make his way back to the kitchen to try and find something that would make for a good breakfast.

When he could only find excessive amounts of ramen noodles and fruit snacks, John sighed in defeat and turned back to Alex’s desk, searching for a clean piece of paper among the chaos of filled notebooks and countless pens. Finally finding one and scribbling down a quick note, John dropped the piece of paper where Alex could reach it before making his way out of the apartment.

Making his way back into the apartment a fair amount of time later, grocery bags in hand, John saw Alex laying in a heap curled up in the sheets, exactly where John had left him. Sighing, he put the bags down and made his way to pick up the note he had and threw it away before heading back to the kitchen, pulling out a box of cheap pancake mix and making the best of the tiny kitchen he was forced to work with.

As he was struggling with the cheap kitchenware and stove that only seemed to be able to alternate as a useless decoration and a bonfire, Alex began to stir awake slowly. John was about to call out a greeting, but was interrupted by Alex coughing loud and dry and sneezing almost immediately after.

John didn't hesitate to abandon the lost cause that was the stove in favor of rushing over to check on Alex and quickly asking, “Are you okay?” on his way from the kitchen.

When John reached him, Alex look up in surprise for a second before regaining his train of thought and trying his hardest to get out a sarcastic, “I’m pretty sure the appropriate response to someone sneezing is ‘bless you’,” but when he got two words in he froze and groaned as he reached to rub his own throat in pain.

John looked down at Alex as he made his way to stand up and started making his way across the room like a man on a mission. It was then that John realized he was heading to his desk, and subsequently his laptop. With an exaggerated sigh, he made his way past Alex, beating him to the laptop and closing it.

Alex looked from his laptop back up to John, panic showing in his eyes. John returned his gaze with an air of authority. “You have a mac, everything gets saved automatically.” To which Alex rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to protest again.

“I didn't get to,” a cough, “I didn't get to finish,” more coughing. Alex paused for a moment as if trying to think of a new strategy. Finally he decided to try and rush out as quickly as possible, “I didn't get to finish that document last,” before erupting into a coughing fit that had John making his way back to the kitchen to get Alex a fresh glass of water.

When he came back, the coughing still hadn't subsided, and maybe even sounded deeper than before. Alex grabbed the water from him and tried his best to drink as much as he could between coughs. 

Eventually the coughing slowed to a stop, and John shouldn't have expected anything from Alex by this point than for him to start trying to talk again.

“That hurt,” he let out in a small whisper followed by smaller coughs. John couldn't help but roll his eyes at that.

“This is why you can’t overwork yourself, Alex. Sleep, food, and water are not optional.” Alex pouted and opened his mouth to object, but seemed to think better of it this time. “Lay back down so I can make you some breakfast without worrying about you trying to start writing,” John paused shortly before adding on, “again.”

While Alex reluctantly made his way back to his mess of blankets and tried to get himself comfortable in an upright position, John made his way back to the ever frustrating stove of Alex’s apartment. 

Alex instead stayed where he was, doing his best to watch John, wondering what he could possibly be making. His thoughts never stopped, running a mile a minute as he started to question a number of things in his current situation. High up on the list was that he had work.

For a moment he considered voicing his concerns to John, but when he took in a breathe to speak up, it managed to hit him right and spur on yet another coughing fit that ended in a loud groan of annoyance that he could only hope reached John. 

A sweet smell wafting over from the kitchen pulled him from where he had wrapped himself up in the covers to shelter himself from the cold apartment. Reaching John he was greeted by the sight of his curly haired friend pouring syrup over a stack of pancakes. 

John looked up and jumped a little when he saw Alex standing practically right behind him. "You're actually really quiet when you actually stop talking. Did you know that?" John prodded playfully. "I made pancakes. You definitely need something to eat this morning." He said while he turned back to face the pancakes. 

Alex just rolled his eyes from behind him and reached for the plate of pancakes, pressing close against John's back in the process, effectively bringing back that flustered expression Alex still adored once more. He took advantage of the moment to snatch the play before John could gather his thoughts enough to argue.

Smirking at the bright red that had spread across John's face, Alex turned back to his bed and made himself comfortable once more, this time with the added bonus of a hot breakfast. 

"Wait! Hey! Those aren't all yours! I need to get mine first!" Came an indignant shout from John who rushed over to Alex with an empty plate and fork, stealing away some pancakes before Alex had managed to get to any of them, but Alex's scowl at John's deceleration was wiped clean when he sneezed abruptly. 

"Look Alex, I love you and all, but I am not letting you get me sick," John joked before he froze, realizing exactly what he had just said. What if Alex took him seriously. What if he took it seriously and got freaked out? 

John's sudden fears were put back in their place when Alex stuck his tongue out at John. 

"You're an actual five year old, Alexander," John whined before digging into the sweet goodness of the fresh pancakes. The silence seemed far more comfortable this time as Alex followed suit. 

When he had made slight progress in the meal, Alex remembered his concerns and reached for his phone, finding someone to cover his shift. Looking up at John who was happily eating into the pancakes he had made, Alex made his decision immediately and starting finding someone to covers his shift as well.

If Alex had to make a list of everything that made him excessively uncomfortable, the top three would definitely include being sick. Illness only ever meant bad things for him and everyone around him, and he couldn't stand the idea of him or anyone else around him getting sick. The next would be storms, which were almost always just as bad and dangerous. The third, Alex decided, would have to be Jefferson. He didn't feel the need to provide an explanation, seeing as the prick’s mere existence was explanation enough.

As he was thinking this through, he managed to somehow distract himself from the dry pain in the back of his throat that seemed to be begging for him to cough again. John must have noticed him getting wrapped up in his own thoughts, because his brows furrowed as he looked over to Alex from across an empty plate. 

Alex tried to convey his confusion and curiosity as to what John was thinking through his expression, and was thankful when John finally seemed to realize what Alex was trying to ask. “I have just decided something.” Alex raised his eyebrows, urging John on. “You are never walking back here in the cold again.”

Alex couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him at the seriousness John had used when he made his statement, but something in the way John was looking at him told Alex that he hadn't been joking at all. 

His thoughts were filling up inside him, though, and he Hagen to question if John would let him near his laptop at any point that day. He frowned for a moment as he watched John get up to put away his plate before figuring out the perfect way to press John with his questions. 

Unlocking his phone, Alex found John's contact and sent the text as soon as he sat back down at the desk again. He didn't even try to fight back the smile that covered his face when John looked down at his phone in confusion as it lit up with the alert. 

Alex:  
Exactly how long do you think you're going to be over, and will I ever be allowed to write?

John snorted as he read it, earning a disapproved scowl from Alex that only ended in him preparing to argue again and being stopped by him not wanting to cough again. 

"I'll be over long enough to keep you off your laptop," he stated rather matter of factly, earning an annoyed groan from Alex. Looking up, John saw the small smile that Alex seemed to be trying to hide as he tried his best to be overdramatic. 

The rest of the day seemed to flow just like that, with Alex shooting a text that always had the perfect format and John answering him out loud to varying reactions from the small one who still sat on his bed. Alex was absolutely not prepared to try and tell John that he wasn't actually that sick. If he did, he would surely be met with John protesting, and as much as Alex loved debates, debates over text were definitely not as fun. 

More importantly, Alex was thrilled that he now had full capability to test the limits John would go to in order to make Alex happier or feel better. After the pancakes, he had somehow managed to get John to make him soup that he had apparently gotten at the store completely willingly. Deciding that soup was clearly to easy and made far too much sense, Alex reached further. 

Now, as he sat with a heated blanket ("Seriously?"), a bowl of ice cream ("Yeah sure... I mean it's really cold already, but that'd help your throat."), a guide book for playing the guitar ("You're learning how to play that? Then why do you need a book on how to play it if you aren't?"), and the light bulb in his lamp replaced ("It looks like it's perfectly fine. What do you mean dim? That thing is the brightest part of the room. Yes including you."), Alex was beginning to question if maybe he should stop. 

"Why would you need another blanket?" John finally narrowed his eyes at Alex, who couldn't help cracking, pulling his phone out and putting every bit of his willpower into stifling the laugh that was fighting so hard to come out. 

Alex:  
Really?   
The blanket?   
That's the one that gave me away?   
Really, John?  
Not replacing the brand new light bulb?

As John stared at the texts in betrayal, Alex gave up on fighting the laughter, earning a disapproving glare from his freckled friend. 

"Awesome. Nice to see you're as honest as you are polite," Alex only laughed harder at this, but in the back of his mind, he tried to deny that if anyone else had said that, they would have not gotten away with it at all. Yet for some reason Alex couldn't quite place, he was fairly certain that he could let John get away with just about anything. 

Giving in, John let the glare drop and collapsed on top of Alex who let out what John would go as far as to call a squeak at the sudden weight on him. Smiling, John rolled off so he was laying next to him before turning to face Alex. 

He suddenly noticed their close proximity, a fact that Alex took great pleasure as John's face red bed brightly. Alex tried to tell himself that the way the flustered look always brought out John's freckles wasn't as adorable as he was telling himself. He also tried to tell himself that the way his eyes widened every time he got nervous wasn't cute, either. 

Of course, he completely failed to deny either of those things,and when the two finally spoke, it came out in a hushed whisper. 

"Alexander."

"John."

"This better just be some 24 hour flu or so help me."


	10. Chapter 10

The room Alex sat in felt so horribly stuffed up, the humidity of it sticking to him, making his thoughts sluggish as his gaze scanned the near empty space. Letting his weight relax back, he felt something warm behind him. 

It was then that the smell, no, the stench of the room struck him. One that was foul and familiar, a combination Alex had never wanted to be faced with again in his lifetime. Yet it seemed to be one that followed him everywhere he went in his attempt to leave it behind. 

He tried to turn himself around to see what was behind him, although deep in the back of his mind, he already knew what he would find. More importantly, he knew how much he would hate the sight he would be faced with when he turned to it.

As if his own subconscious was trying to stop him from bringing himself the sorrow he knew awaited him, he felt a weak grip around him, holding him forward as to keep him from turning around. The grip gave under the slightest bit of resistance from Alex as he forced himself to turn around, against his own better judgement.

He was met with a face that never truly left him, even after so many years and so many miles.

“Alexander,” his mother’s broken voice croaked out, barely a whisper. Something about it felt off. He felt as though her voice should sound more saddened, at a loss, completely given up. But he could hear what may have sounded like worry for Alex as he tried to resist the urge to break down then and there, the clouded expression of his mother staring back at him hollowly. 

He felt that he should turn around right then. He felt that whatever was about to happen was something that he didn't want to witness first hand. And yet he couldn't tear his gaze away as his mother took in a shallow, shaky breath, her grip on him tightening and stiffening for a brief moment before her arms fell limp around Alex. 

When he spoke up, trying to call our her name, his voice felt as though it were smaller than it should have been, whether it was from the scratchiness in the back of his throat, the muggy heat of the room around him, or the sight of his mother now unmoving right before him, Alex couldn't ever be sure. 

"Alexander," it still sounded like his mother, but with even more of the peculiar tones that he couldn't help feeling didn't belong. 

"Alex, are you okay?" for some reason or another, the voice seemed to be coming from behind Alex, and had taken a whole new, panicked tone. 

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried his best to block out the voice as best he could. But it was persistent, and only grew louder in volume and clarity until he finally gave in and blearily opened his eyes, the room's bright light almost blinding him and he looked at a cluttered mess of books and papers across of a darkly colored sheet that blocked off the edge of his vision. 

The room felt familiar, but far from recognizable as Alex's breathing shortened and his heart raced. The mess was a stark contrast to where he could last remember being, but then he heard another voice from behind him, and recalled it to be the same odd voice from just moments ago. 

"Alexander, please," he struggled to figure out what was going on, where he was, what this voice had asked or possibly even demanded that required a "please".

He wanted to turn around, but now he found himself terrified by the idea, frozen in his fears. The voice didn't dare stop, trying to call out to him again. Alex tried to lift his arms, only to recognize that his arms were shaking, the observation coming in the form of a sort of calm that only served to intensify all of his worries at once. 

Whoever the source of the voice behind him was must have taken notice of this fact, as Alex could feel the bed shift beneath him. Then watched out of the corner of his eye as the person retrieved something and came back towards where he lay shivering. 

The person’s arms hooked around from behind him, lifting him up long enough for the person that Alex had a nagging feeling that he ought to recognize to slip behind him and place something on Alex’s lap. Alex watched as the object lit up brightly, making him shy back into the person who sat behind him. More sounds began to play, and for a while they were muffled, hidden just from Alex’s reach as he strained to make them them out. 

When what he couldn't distinguish between what was an eternity or a few short minutes had passed, the screen before him had become clear and the person behind him felt more solid and real than before. He was able to pin what he was watching as a show, but couldn't recognize it. This time, though, he felt that the feeling was genuine, and he truly had never seen the show before.

He allowed for himself to relax into the person who sat behind him, holding Alex close. The closeness, the gentle and yet ever protective hold on him told him exactly who was sitting there, just out of his sight, but deep down he wasn't sure that he could trust even that recognition in that moment.

“John?” he asked cautiously, not daring to turn around.

“Alex,” John hummed behind him in confirmation, tightening his protective hold as Alex turned his head to look at John, who had stopped watching the show long ago in favor of keeping a close eye on him. 

“Hi,” Alex said, voice finally rising above a whisper as he gave John a small and, if John looked too deep into it, nervous smile.

John couldn't help smiling back that wide smile that never failed to give Alex that feeling that everything would be perfectly okay, one that Alex finally decided he would admit to himself that he had come to adore, before answering back with the most excited voice Alex had ever heard him use, “Hi.”

Alex figured he should probably move, that John would likely prefer for him to move from his position in his lap, all his weight pressed back and relaxed against John. But Alex was not the type to give up easily on something when he decided he wanted it, and this, laying there against the person he had already come to begin to genuinely trust, this was something he wanted.

Even though he couldn't have known, John was just as grateful that Alex had decided not to remove himself from the position, but he refused to voice this. If John did share these thoughts, he was certain that his friend would be made uncomfortable. After all, they were friends. So instead he opted to turn his attention back to the screen with a small nod.

After a few moments of silence between the two, Alex finally chirped up, seeming to be back to his normal, talkative self once more. “What are we watching? I’ve never seen it before.”

John gasped over dramatically, “You’ve never seen Parks and Recreation?" 

"Nope. Is this on my laptop?" Alex answered and asked without skipping a beat. 

"I can't believe you've never seen this, we're starting from the beginning," John stated as he snaked his arms around Alex to change the episode. "Also yes, I logged into Netflix and put something on, and if you think we're not talking about this later, when you're breathing is actually level, then you are absolutely wrong."

Alex rolled his eyes a little, deciding to ignore the last part of what John had said, instead electing to bring up a part he felt was far more important. "So do I have to actually say the Netflix and chill joke or is that one implied?"

The way John tensed up nervously was more than enough of a sign to Alex that he had to have gotten that look on his face again. Glancing over his shoulder, his suspicions were confirmed upon seeing John staring at Alex's laptop with far too much focus for a twenty two year old. 

He smiled proudly as he turned his attention back to the show. John, meanwhile, was faced with a very difficult predicament. He wanted nothing more than to press himself into Alex's back and take in every single detail of him, but he was forced to the realization that doing that may actually seem more along the lines of "Netflix and chill" than "bros being bros".

So, he settled for resting his chin on Alex's shoulder as the pair relaxed into each other, each wanting to lean in further, and yet neither willing to take that first leap. 

Nearly five episodes in, John was thrilled to notice that Alex had finally stopped shaking, his breathing falling into even, calm breaths. He was sure that the relief he felt upon this observation was obvious, but couldn't bring himself to care. What was far more important was that Alex was feeling better. Maybe not deep down, but at least for the moment. 

When they finished the episode they were on, John asked, almost cautiously, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Alex only tensed up, considering for a few moments before shaking his head. He decided then that perhaps he could, and that he probably should, but he didn't dare disturb the air of comfort the two had built up around them. 

The two sat on in quiet together, watching as the show progressed. The focus Alex had directed to the show was visible all over him, a fact that John couldn't help but smile fondly for. No matter how much energy this man had, when he chose something to focus on, he focused on it with every fiber in his being. 

Alex's phone ringing broke the peace, and Alex didn't seem to hesitate as he reached to pick it up, only being met with a frustrated French accent. "Where are you?"

"I'm at my apartment, still sick," Alex answered hoarsely, hoping that was a good enough answer for Lafayette to hang up so he could return back to the comfort of John. 

Naturally, that was not enough of answer, "Are you resting?"

"Yes," was Alex's short answer. 

"Are you getting enough to eat?"

"Yes, mom," he was sure that his friend could hear him rolling his eyes on the other end of the line. 

"Alexander, we just want to make sure you're okay. You never actually take sick days," Alex would admit under just about any other circumstances that this was a very true, but right now he had not had his greatest morning and would much rather go back to pressing into John, so he was absolutely not willing to admit to anything. 

"Are you alone?" The question caught him off guard, but he answered as crisp as ever. 

"No, John's over," he hoped that his answer came out neutral enough, and for a moment was thrilled to have achieved such a tone when his response was met with Lafayette's sigh of relief. 

This moment of pride was completely shattered, though, when Lafayette formed a worded response to Alex. "Ah, John's over. I see. Nothing against you or your dear friend, but I must advise that the two of you remember to use protection."

With that, the Frenchman hung up abruptly, leaving Alex silenced for a moment until he heard John laughing behind him. John, who was unbelievably amused at how the tables had turned remarkably in his favor. 

"You are the worst, you useless Baguette," Alex muttered at his phone, John amusement intensifying until he felt Alex squeezing back against him, forcing him to stop laughing at his friend's recent moment of flustered embarrassment. 

Still smiling, John reached his arms around Alex again, straightening the laptop that Alex hadn't even bothered to notice that he almost knocked over in the moment. When he went to move his arms back to his own sides, he was stopped by Alex, who had already put all of his attention back to the movie. That was, aside from the attention he paid to John that was enough for Alex to stop him by his wrists, instead moving them to wrap around the smaller man. 

John tried not to read to much into the small movement, Alex was probably just looking for some form of absolutely platonic comfort because he was still sick. Yeah, that had to be it. 

Regardless, he decided he deserved to self indulge even more beyond that, and rested his chin atop Alex's shoulder once more, taking in the everything he could, from the slight smell of coffee that always seemed to linger around Alex to how easily his small frame fit into John's. 

For Alex, a strange sort of comfort overwhelmed him, and he never wanted to leave that spot ever again. Sitting there, back pressed to John, who rested his head on his shoulder perfectly, he couldn't even bring himself to worry about his writing, and any lingering fears within him quieted themselves, even if just for a short moment.


	11. Chapter 11

Alex had lost himself in the comfort of John, wrapped around him from behind, relaxed into each other, so when John finally stirred, Alex pulled himself from the comfort, looking over to him. If John hadn't known Alex, he may have even described the expression he wore as one of innocence, but he did know better, and realized that Alex was one small frown away from pouting.

He could feel himself giving in to the expression, starting to melt back to where he sat moments before. He was reminded of his initial objective, though, when his stomach reminded him impatiently.

“Come one, Alex, we’ve got to get something to eat,” John tried, being met with Alex letting out a tired, possibly annoyed, whine, before slowly standing up and stretching. And if the way his shirt shifted upwards with the movement let a strip of tanned skin show, John definitely didn't notice.

Forcing himself to focus back on the task at hand, he whisked Alex off and away from the tiny, chilled apartment. He hesitated for a moment, steps faltering slightly as he followed behind the oddly well rested friend of his, mind lingering on the memories of a frightened Alex, clinging to John as though he were the only other thing in the room.

“Do you want to talk bout it?” John called ahead to Alex, bringing his pace back up to catch his shorter friend’s with ease. 

For a moment, Alex looked over, baffled expression showing his confusion at John’s sudden shift from the bouncy, light hearted fun to what almost seemed to be nervousness. His excited mood immediately dropped when he realized what John was alluding to, thoughts snapping back to the day before.

Of course John would want to know what had happened, why wouldn't he? Alex, however, had no idea how he should answer, or if he even should. Later, he would decide to blame his answer on getting too much sleep in the past twenty four hours, but in that moment, seeing the carefully measured caution showing across John, Alex couldn't help himself from feeling as though he might just be able to trust John. So, taking a deep breath, he realized that in all his honesty, the day before had left him truly exhausted from the unwanted rush of adrenaline, and he couldn't think of a full, honest answer, instead electing to merely try his best.

"When I was younger, my mother and I, we fell ill," Alex stopped himself, that small part of him that still held tight onto those unforgettable memories making him choke on his own words. For a second he worried that he may not even be able to get out what he had wanted to say, but it seemed he didn't have to, as the next thing he was aware of was being enveloped in John's warm, welcoming embrace. 

"It's okay, though. I'm alright now. Here, this place, my friends," Alex was just barely able to stop himself from muttering out John's own name. "It's safe, far more so than where I came from."

Alex tried to give John a confident smile, but to the taller it mostly came across as the masking smile of someone long since broken. 

It took everything in John to not push anymore questions, even though he wanted to so horribly as he stood there, holding Alex close.

"Let's just go get something to eat for now," he suggested. When John nodded in a agreement, Alex fell into step behind him once more, he briefly felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. That was only until he caught on to his friend's worries once more. 

Alex reached to catch John's hand in a way that he hoped came across as reassuring, trying to convey that, but the hold only left him thinking more about how John's hand felt as it fit easily into his. 

When John had suggested driving to the mall, Alex almost seemed like he was going to argue to what John assumed was in favor of just walking, but gave up before he could even argue, stopped by a sudden sneeze. 

John tried to pull Alex away as over the top as he could manage, resulting in a dramatic Alex trying to resist him. The bigger of the two rolled his eyes and feigned giving in, surprising Alex at how easily had given up in trying to pull him to the car so they wouldn't have to walk to wherever they wound up going. 

Alex then tried his best to disguise his gasp of shock as a cough when John reached around him and lifted him bridal style. 

"What did I tell you?" He asked Alex with the tone that a mother would use to scold a child. 

"I'm not allowed to walk in the cold anymore?" Alex asked, pausing in his brief attempts to break from John's hold as he stared at his friend, showing obvious disbelief at how serious John had been when he had declared his new rule. 

"You're not allowed to walk in the cold anymore!" John exclaimed. Alex was sure that if his friend's hands weren't currently occupied with holding him off the ground that John would have thrown them around just to seem somehow more dramatic. 

Somehow, the two managed to settle on going back to the mall, this time without having to worry about getting anywhere on time as John let Alex lead him in what he hoped was the direction of the food court. But knowing Alex, the pair could be going just about anywhere other than the one place John wanted to go to at that moment. 

Alex had been walking confidently, an air of purpose around him as he led John though the mall, weaving between crowds of people. 

The smell of grease and fresh pizza hit John as he followed on behind Alex, but he didn't seem to even notice the very reason he had agreed to go to the mall in the first place, continuing on. Confused, John reached out to snatch Alex, but misjudged his reach and wound up with a hand wrapped around the other man's own. 

He felt the flush rising on him, and went to pull his hand back, but Alex simply tightened the grip and took the sudden shock John was experiencing as a chance to pull him on and past the food court.

What on earth was Alex doing?

"I'm going to show you something, John. And you are going to take me very seriously, as this is something of high importance," Alex stated, almost as though he had been reading John's mind. 

He considered asking what exactly could be so important right then that it was at higher priority than actually getting to eat something. He worried for a moment that this was going to be something truly serious like everything else in the past couple of days, but Alex was walking with an odd form of determination that told John otherwise. 

Deciding to just let Alex pull him along, John had no problems in catching up with Alex's shorter stride, resisting the urge to comment on how easy it was for him to catch up to Alex and his shorter legs, figuring that would likely not lead to the reaction he wanted right then. Whatever this was, it had to really be important for Alex to be so focused, and John didn't want to risk disrupting his intense and mysterious desire. 

When Alex almost knocked John into a group of teenagers, John finally tried to tell him to slow down over the sounds of the agitated taints behind them. Alex didn't react any further than pulling John's hand harder before coming to a sudden stop right in front of a store John had never expected Alex to lead him to. 

And yet, he couldn't help looking over to Alex and realizing that this was absolutely a place he would go to. 

"We're getting light up sneakers, John," Alex declared in a voice of total authority as he looked into the shoe store, focus never leaving his face. 

John found himself letting out a quiet laugh as he studied Alex's expression skeptically. "We are?" 

Alex only nodded before striding into the store, leaving John to fight back the small giggles as he followed him in. 

"Let me clarify here: We? As in I am getting light up sneakers, too?" When John got the words out, Alex turned to him with that same look that John was sure he gave problematic customers at the rink. 

"Yes, John. We as in us. We are bother getting light up sneakers, and that's the end of it," he turned back away and began to lead John through the racks of various types of cheap sneakers the store was stocked full of. 

John smiled even as Alex's back was turned to him while the overly serious man looked carefully across an array of display shoes. 

"Alright, alright. What color shoes are you getting?" John asked curiously, looking over the shoes alongside Alex. 

"We," Alex corrected carefully, "are getting red, white, and blue sneakers. What other colors would we get?" he asked sarcastically. 

Alex paused for a moment, glancing at John in the edge of his vision, realizing how easy it had been for him to get John wrapped around his finger. Smirking, Alex turned to face John fully before putting on his best customer service face. 

"So what size shoe do you need?" he asked with the least authentic voice of politeness and excitement that he could manage, making John jump a little before turning to Alex with a look of complete discomfort. 

"Alex. Alex, no. Don't use your customer voice on me, man. That is not okay," John sounded truly thrown off and uncomfortable, and Alex couldn't help laughing before turning back to the shelves. 

Eventually Alex was able to convince John that light up sneakers were "very important" and "a key advancement for humanity as a whole", the two finally sat in the food court, Alex's newest prized possession held carefully close to himself. 

As the two sat in comfort of each other, conversation went just as smooth as ever, and John couldn't help but marvel at how easily the two had gotten along and had gotten to know and trust each other. 

Alex glanced down to his phone quickly before looking back up to John and getting up from where they sat mid sentence.

"I have an idea," he said, not giving himself time to think too far into the potential consequences of what he had decided that he wanted to show John. "Today has been delightful, and while the mall was an absolutely delightful idea, there is something that you definitely deserve to see."

Alex could feel himself getting nervous as he waited for John's answer, hoping he hadn't been to abrupt, that he hadn't damaged the flow they had going so well for them. 

John looked confused, but let out a sound of agreement regardless, ready to let Alex lead him the same way he had just that day. He was sure that he could let Alex lead him anywhere if it were with that much excitement and that much trust. 

Trailing along, he followed as he was led through the parking lot, the sun's soft glow lighting their way. When they reached the car, John tried to ask Alex where they were going so he could drive them, but Alex only put their most recent purchases into the back seat before shaking his head and walking away from the car. 

"You can't be serious?" John called out to him. "You're only just now getting over being sick, and you're already trying to walk through the cold?" 

"Of course I'm serious! Now come on, Laurens. There's something you definitely deserve to see,” Alex said with a knowing look, directing him through the cold parking lot.

“It’s going to be dark soon,” John murmured, almost to himself, as he glanced behind him at the sun as it started to sink lower toward the horizon.

“Well then we’d better hurry along, shouldn’t we?” Alex called out behind him as he quickened his pace.

John followed along, his confusion only increasing when he recognized the direction they were heading to be that of the direction to the ice rink. He figured it wasn't worth asking him why they were going there, given Alex clearly hadn't even wanted John to notice they were going to the rink quite yet. 

In his silent curiosity, John eventually followed Alex in through the rink’s main doors, taking in the sight of the dark, empty building.

“There’s no hockey or public sessions tonight, so the rink closed early,” Alex explained easily as he led John through the lobby and up to the second floor without giving the spacious rooms more than a short glance. 

He then led John through the same hallway of offices that John had found him in before until they reached a door they had yet to open. With John watching carefully, Alex opened the door and led him through an array of hallways and past storage rooms before stopping mid hallway, turning around to face John again.

Looking between them, John looked up and down over a tall ladder before catching sight of Alex who stood there, smile wide as he watched John piece together what was going on. The taller of the two looked back up to the top of ladder thoughtfully, Alex still smiling on at him.

“That’s a ladder.”

“It is.”

“We’re on the top floor of the building.”

“We are.”

“There’s a door hatch at the top of the ladder.”

“That there is.”

“This ladder goes to the roof.”

“Wait here.”

John was preparing to ask why exactly Alex was demanding that of him right then, but he was answered when Alex gripped the ladder and started to make his way up them without any hesitation, John left beneath, excitement starting to course through him.

He was left watching as Alex reached the top to open the door, and absolutely did not pay any more attention to the view of Alex he had been provided with along the way. But then the door swung open and soft light flowed into the hallway as Alex lifted himself from the ladder and out of John’s line of sight.

Suddenly, he popped his head over the edge of the doorway, “Alright, come on, John!”

He didn't need to be told twice, and made his way up the ladder awkwardly. It was a mystery to him how Alex, with his shorter reach, had made it up he slightly unsteady ladder so easily. When he finally reached the top, he was met with Alex offering him a hand and explaining to him how to get up carefully. 

John stood back up straight, but misjudged his balance that had apparently left him entirely in the process of getting up there, and practically fell onto Alex. John didn't try to fight back the excited giggles as he straightened himself and looked across the flat blacktop, trying to drink in every detail. 

His gaze finally settled on the dar side of the roof, where the ski was lighting in a brilliant, bright orange. He must have said something out load, because before he knew it, Alex had grabbed his hand and started leading him that direction, cold gusts of wind chilling the pair as the shooter excited one led their way.

Reaching the edge of the roof, Alex sat down comfortably by the edge, John carefully mirroring the action as they faced the quickly lowering sun. The orange glow lit up the darkening blue of the sky, and if it weren’t for the cold chill biting into him, John would want to describe the sight as warm.

Alex watched John with nothing short of adoration, the burnt orange of the sunset dancing across his features, the cold air beginning to make Alex slightly uncomfortable. He supposed he could have prepared better as he sat there in clothes that were probably not the best for the cold winter night approaching, but the sight of John watching the sky with such amazement almost made up for it.

As he sat there, slowly beginning to shiver once more, he felt a flash of worry when John stirred slightly next to him, but his anxieties were quickly extinguished when John wrapped an arm around him, pulling the smaller into his side as the sun sank down past the horizon, and that more than made up for the cold around them.


	12. Chapter 12

The Washington estate was far from what John had been expecting when Alex had told him all about the general manager's home. He couldn't help but observe that the mansion was absurdly large for someone who works at an ice rink. Alex must have picked up on John's awe, smiling smugly before nudging him towards the gorgeous structure. 

"It's cold out John, so how about you grow awestruck while I grow warm inside," he said, making John shake his head briefly before smiling down at Alex. 

"Awestruck? Hardly, Alexander. I've seen bigger."

"Please keep the dirty talk down at our manager's house," Hercules interrupted, making his way to wards his friends, Lafayette close behind, not even trying to hide his amusement. 

John felt his face growing hot and hoped with every fiber of his being that the change wasn't noticeable. Of course, he could count on Alex’s attentiveness as he always did, the shorter smirking in a way that gave John the impression that he hadn't succeeding in being as subtle as he had wished. 

Rolling his eyes, Lafayette knocked into Alex’s shoulder before leading the group towards the mansion. When John walk through the doors, he took in the aged architecture around him with amazement and wonder, and couldn't help being reminded of his family’s property over in South Carolina.

The memories of that place only served John negatively, forcing his thoughts towards the bridges he tried to burn. But here and now, John couldn't let him think about his family, he refused to. Instead, he chose to focus on following Alex through the open space of the Washington's home. 

The group made their way into a large, open room that John assumed had to have been something else, something perhaps even more elegant, but now served as an impressive in home theater. 

He was knocked from his thoughts when Angelica called out an excited greeting to the four, beckoning them over to where a small group sat close together chattering excitedly. 

“It seems that everyone’s here now,” Aaron observed, watching the group get themselves comfortable with the rest of the staff in the large room.

“Hello, Angelica and Eliza,” John smiled at the two as he greeted them, sitting comfortable next to Alex.

“And Peggy!” another voice called out as the third sister made he way into the room, arms filled with snacks and bottles and cans of some form of beer or another while she strode her way to the rest of the group.

Sitting down, she tossed bags of various party snacks and drinks to each person in turn. John couldn’t help noticing how easily Alex caught the items, letting himself get too distracted in the process, resulting in a bag of chips nailing him.

Alex let out an amused laugh before picking up said bag of chips and passing them back to a flushed John, giving him a small smile.

“Mon Dieu,” Lafayette let out sarcastically from where he sat between Hercules and Angelica. John noted that the frenchman was already holding a near empty glass of wine, “Just get a room already, you two.”

John could feel himself heating up even more with the added attention, but managed to spare a short glance to Alex, a part of him truly curious as to how the other victim of such harassment was reacting. To see Alex simply glaring at their friend through narrowed eyes. 

When the laughter of the group died down, John turned to the newest Schuyler sister sitting next to him, starting up a conversation with Peggy easily before glancing around and asking the question that had just arisen within him.

“So where’s Washington?” he asked curiously, not sure who would answer, but not truly caring who would.

“He and Martha, his wife, always head out for a short vacation to celebrate the new year,” Aaron explained between drinks. “They let us use the estate to celebrate for ourselves. The only rules are employees only and no wrecking the place.”

“Five years since this annual tradition began, and the rules still have yet to be broken once,” Alex said, and if John didn’t know any better, he may have even said Alex seemed smug as he went to open his drink and raise it to his lips.

“If I’m not mistaken,” Hercules started, looking straight at Alex, his voice seeming to be endlessly amused in that moment, “you are the one who broke nearly half of the rails on the main staircase last year, did you not?”

Alex filled with bewilderment, a confused looks crossing his face for a moment until it was replaced with sudden recognition. “Shit, yeah, that’s true,” he muttered out, seemingly defeated. 

With that, the group flowed into easy conversation, each member progressing through their drinks steadily as the night went on. When the group entered into a break in the conversation, Angelica perked up, “We should play a game.”

“Oui!” Lafayette sat back up excitedly.

When the rest of the group agreed with varying levels of excitement, ranging from the previous excitement to Aaron’s extreme reluctance, Angelica searched for an empty bottle before setting it on the ground in the center of the group that had moved in closer to each other.

“Alright, since this was my idea, I’ll go first,” she said without skipping a bet, reaching down to spin the empty bottle excitedly, watching as it spun to a stop.

“Herc!” she announced, turning to face the man next to her, “Truth or dare?”

He didn’t hesitate to give his answer, “Dare.”

Angelica looked thoughtful for a moment until her gaze landed on the dark scarf Eliza had decided to wear to the party that night.

“I dare you to dance with one random person in this room blindfolded, and if you can’t figure out who it is, you have to finish your drink in one go,” she finished, gesturing to Eliza to take off her scarf.

When it was wrapped around Hercules’ head as securely as they could manage, she turned behind her to gesture Lafayette over silently. John tried his hardest to not laugh at the spectacle as Lafayette placed Hercules’ and his own hands with only minimal confusion from the blindfolded friend, leading him into an awkward slow dance while the rest of the group watched on in amusement.

Lafayette ended up deciding to go to dip Hercules, which merely ended in the two falling to the floor in laughter. Between fits of laughter, Hercules managed to breathe out, “Laf, why would you think a dip would be a good idea?”

The groups excitement only elevated until they eventually calmed down enough to settle back into their circle around the bottle. The night went on in a similar fashion. With events such as Hercules daring John to call a random number to use his worst pick up line on, to John asking Lafayette how many people he had had sex with (a question that had earned the group a shit eating grin and a “In general or at once?”).

Eventually, Alex landed on Burr, getting obviously disappointed when Aaron chose dare, but amended it right away with a smug look and carefully thought out dare.

“I dare you, Aaron Burr, to go home,” Alex said evenly, earning a disapproving look from Eliza and Angelica.

“Alex, no. You can’t just dare people to go home,” John sighed out, exasperated.

“But-“

“No, dare something else, Alexander.”

“Fine,” Alex muttered, “I dare you to not talk for the rest of the night, effective immediately following your turn.”

Aaron rolled his eyes, but spun the bottle for his turn regardless.

“Ah, Alexander Hamilton, prefect,” he said, carefully thinking through his dare. “I dare you to make out with whoever your spin lands on.”

Alex scowled, “Wow, Burr. That’s such an original idea. Did you think of that one on your own, or should I thank someone else?” he asked sarcasm filling into his every word.

John watched the spin with nerves bundling in him. He couldn’t help wondering what how Alex would kiss. But then he began to wonder what he would do if the spin landed on him. Would Alex actually do it? He sure wasn’t the type to turn down a dare, though, that much was painfully obvious in that moment.

But it seemed that he didn’t have to worry about that train of though anymore, he realized with a slight twinge of sadness and maybe even a little bitterness, when the bottle slowed to a stop in front of Eliza.

He felt like he was in a dream, out of control and forced to sit back and watch as Alex smiled before making his way through the middle of the group to Eliza. Only then did he realize that this was more of a nightmare than a dream when Alex pressed his lips to Eliza’s, own, hands reaching to cradle her face on their own. 

And yes, that was definitely bitterness that he was feeling. Alex was far too familiar, and the events unfolding in front of John were far from friendly. Before he was even sure of what he was going, John got to his feet in a rush before muttering out something he hoped was a good enough excuse before making his way from the room and from the house.

As he left the property, making his way to his car quickly, he fought the urge to just turn around, to just go back in and apologize for overreacting, but at this point, he couldn’t just do that. 

But maybe that was exactly what he should do. Perhaps he ought to go back and try to control the situation. When he finally realized this, though, working through his moment of overwhelming thoughts, he was already stumbling back into his apartment, struggling to work the key into his lock before entering his apartment shakily.

Perhaps everything were better off that way. It wasn’t fair for him to come into this rink and make Alex’s business all his, John realized as he stood in the silent apartment, ignoring his phone as it buzzed in his pocket.

Besides, Alex’s business wasn’t John’s. Alex wasn’t John’s. Alex never would be John’s.


	13. Chapter 13

The next couple of days had been tense and uncomfortable. John hadn’t shown to any of his shifts, and Alex couldn’t help feeling that Lafayette and Hercules believed they’re friend’s absence to be his fault.

“Alexander, this is your fault,” Lafayette announced as made his way into the rink that morning, Hercules close behind and coffee in hand.

Ok, so maybe Alex knew full well that they held him accountable for John leaving so abruptly the night of the party.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” Alex defended himself.

Lafayette let out a deep sigh while Hercules just stared at Alex like he was stupid.

“And stop looking at me like that, Herc,” Alex said, clearly annoyed at the two’s accusations. “I didn’t do anything wrong at the party, I done understand why you’re all mad at me for John leaving all of the sudden.”

“Have you even tried to talk to him?” Hercules asked.

Alex’s silence answered the question easily enough for his friends. 

Lafayette glanced to Hercules before resting his hands on Alex’s shoulders, “Alexander, please just go talk to John already. We can cover your shift.”

Alex looked for a moment as though he were about to protest, to make any excuse he could manage to avoid confronting John. But before he could form his own defense, Lafayette had already started past him towards the skate rental, leaving Hercules to follows once he looked to Alex himself and gave a final piece of advice. 

“Alex, for the love of all that is good, please just go and apologize to John already.”

Alex watched as Hercules followed Lafayette away from Alex, leaving the shortest to glare at their backs before turning around and walking towards the rink’s exit frustratedly. If they wanted him to go and talk to John so badly, then he would do it, even though he still couldn’t see how talking to him could solve whatever it was that John was upset over.

“Finally going to talk to John?” a curious voice questioned.

“Maybe I am, why do you want to know, Burr?” Alex stopped and looked over to where Aaron sat behind the front desk.

“That’s a fairly long walk, Hamilton,” Aaron’s brows furrowed as he brought the fact to Alex’s attention. “And by fairly long, I mean practically impossible and probably not a good idea overall,” he paused before adding his final thoughts, “I can drop you off if you want.”

“You just don’t want to work right now,” Alex said suspiciously, and Aaron only shrugged in response.

“It is a long walk though, and your friends have already agreed to cover your shift. So do you want a ride, or not?”

Alex thought over the proposition for a moment before nodding tensely, much to Aaron’s delight.

The car ride felt far longer with Aaron than it had when Alex had taken it with John all of the times before. 

It didn’t help that he spent the entire time trying to figure out exactly what he was supposed to say to John when he got there. He still didn’t see how he was at fault, but he could admit that he did miss having his friend with him. Especially after the two had managed to grow so close with each other in the time leading up to the party incident.

When Aaron dropped Alex off at the apartments, Alex made his way to John's door as he had done many times before. 

Stopping in front of it, he couldn't help the thought from crossing his mind. 

Maybe he had done something wrong to upset John so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm super sorry that I made y'all wait so long for such a short update, but this fic isn't dead, and I should hopefully be able to update more way more frequently again soon


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> John is Upset™

Alex raised a hand to knock on John's door, but couldn't help himself from jumping when the door swung open before he could do anything, leaving him to blink up to a confused and almost hopeful looking John. Alex fumbled for his words, something he only ever found himself doing around John. 

He opened his mouth to say something, to ask what was wrong, what he could do, if it really was something he had done. 

All Alex got out was an uncharacteristically quiet, "You missed your shift today."

"And the day before as well," John said carefully. 

"Where were you?" Alex asked, regaining some of his usual confidence back. 

"My apartment," John answered shortly, almost as if they weren't having the conversation at his apartment door. 

Alex tried not to note how defensive John seemed to be growing from where he stood rigid in the doorway. He also realized that he failed to accomplish that goal as John stepped forward from the door, closing it behind him while Alex took an instinctual step back. 

"And now I have to go get groceries and you're in my way," John said slowly, successfully hiding what he was really thinking as he tried to get across to Alex that he needed him to move. 

Alex couldn't help growing frustrated at this, bothered by his sudden inability to understand what John really meant by his sudden blocking out of Alex. 

"Why did you leave the party like that?" Alex asked bluntly, making now indication that he was going to move out of John's way any time soon. 

"It doesn't matter," he muttered dismissively, and Alex couldn't help letting his frustrations grow further at this. 

"Clearly it did, since you left so suddenly," Alex said accusingly, voice starting to grow louder. 

"I was uncomfortable, so I left," John said sharply, voice raising to match Alex's. 

"What could have made you so uncomfortable so suddenly?" Alex was almost shouting now as John did the same. 

"I didn't enjoy the game we were playing in the slightest, Alexander. So I left."

"You were enjoying the game plenty until it was my turn!"

John opened his mouth to yell something back, but he wasn't entirely sure what. 

"Am I not allowed to play the game then?" Alex questioned. "What about me playing a game that everyone else was playing and enjoying could have possibly made you so uncomfortable?"

John opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when he realized that no matter what he would say right then, it would only lead to more arguing. And Alex was still saying something, but John had already stopped paying attention. 

As far as John was concerned, he was not a well spoken person. That was Alex's job, to craft his words together to create and to destroy to powerful extents. 

However, John was absolutely a person of action and impulse. 

"Is it because -"

John grabbed Alex by the color of his shirt and pulled him close, crashing their lips together roughly, Alex stilling completely, frozen where he stood. 

John began to panic, this was it, this was where he messed up beyond all belief. This was the point of no recovery, this was the part where Alex would take a step back to breathe, to tell John off, to walk away, to never look back, to be disgusted with John, to kiss him back. 

Wait.

That couldn't be right. 

Yet, Alex readjusted his position before softening into the kiss, and every one of John's worries seemed to drift away as the two melted into each other. Alex's lips were soft, a sharp contrast to the words those same lips crafted together, and John found his hands settling on his waist, Alex's coming to caress his face gently. 

Alex let out a small sound of disappointment when John pulled away, and John couldn't help the smile that overtook his expression. 

"Okay," Alex said slowly. 

John cleared his throughly nervously, waiting for Alex to say something, anything. 

"You said you had to go grocery shopping, right?" Alex asked. 

"Um, yeah." John's answer came out more of a question, but Alex nodded anyways. 

"Alright, let's go," he said, turning to lead the way to John's car, leaving John to watch, frozen from the quickness of everything that had happened before turning to lock his apartment and follow Alex, who was already waiting for John to unlock the car. 

John couldn't help the flush from returning when he made his was to start the car, Alex sitting in the passenger seat next to him. 

Alex couldn't help noticing the flush and grinning a bit to himself for it. And as John drove away from the apartment building, Alex couldn't help noticing the stark difference between this car ride and the one before. 

Here, sitting next to John, the silence was comfortable, welcome, and he couldn't help feeling for the first time since he found the run down ice rink, that he had found the place where he belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, this main story is done, but I have a feeling there's gonna be extra chapters added on when inspiration strikes!!


End file.
